Unit 10: The EU

Question 1

Who are the members of the EU?

Answer 1

Ireland, Portugal, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus

Question 2

When did the UK become a member of the EU? Why?

Answer 2

-1973
-economic benefits of joining - many regions were destroyed economically after the war and had some of the poorest regions in Western Europe
-european regional development fund set up in 1975 - transfered money from rich regions to poorer regions to improve infrastructure, attract investment, and create jobs (accounts for 1/3rd of EU spending)

Question 3

What are the 6 aims of the EU?

Answer 3

They are written in article 3 of the EU treaty:
1. Establishing a monetary union
2. Establishing travel and justice without frontiers
3. Promote peace
4. Promote economic, social and territorial cohesion
5. Single market
6. Combatting discrimination and promoting equality

Question 4

What are the ways in which the EU aim of promoting peace and the EUs values has been met?

Answer 4

-No EU members have gone to war with eachother
-Membership criteria helps protect aims
-Tensions low between states
-Won a Nobel peace prize in 2012
-Has helped countries which were preovuosuly under authoritarian leadership to become democratic
-Schuman Declaration 1950 - combined Europe politically and economally and the coal and steel industries as they were the backbone of the war which tied war production with your enemies making war less likely

Question 5

What are the ways in which the EU aim of promoting peace and the EUs values has not been met?

Answer 5

-Doesn’t promote peace in the east - war in Iraq in 1990 and 2003
-Bombings in Northern Ireland and border conflicts
-Falklands war
-Yugoslavia no longer a country
-France intervenes in African conflicts
-Diplomatic conflicts e.g. Hungary and orban with other countries
-Ukraine and Russia war
-not all are part of coalition of willing
-Afghanistan

Question 6

What are the ways in which the EU aim of establishing a single European market has been met?

Answer 6

-Free movement of goods - member states cant impose duties and taxes on good from other EU states, removing physical and technical barriers
-Free movement of services - professional, businesses and self employed people can establish
-Free movement of people - right to seek employment in another EU state and have the same rights on housing, pay and social security
-Free movement of capital - restrictions on capital movement like buying currency removed
-Created more than 2.5 million jobs and helped increase GDP 15%
-Largest in the world, promotes trade, investment and prosperity
-single European act of 1986 - stopped economic discrimination against smaller nations like Luxembourg
-Copenhagen criteria

Question 7

What are the ways in which the EU aim of establishing a single European market has not been met?

Answer 7

-EU regulation can be expensive for small and medium enterprises and financial services
-Indaqueate enforcement of rules limited successes
-Businesses struggle to grow internationally
-Incomplete and over regulated
-Economic growth is weak and socioeconomic inequality is growing

Question 8

What are the ways in which the EU aim of promoting economic, social and territorial cohesion has been met?

Answer 8

-Single market prompted greater EU role in policy to reduce disparities between and within member states
-EU regional development funds for the poorer regions
-Effective reasonse across Europe for Covid
-Covid 19 European recovery fund fo relief
-Security cooperation in border

Question 9

What are the ways in which the EU aim of promoting economic, social and territorial cohesion has not been met?

Answer 9

-Criticised by the right for imposing costs on businesses and not improving competitiveness
-Criticised by the left for imposing spending cuts and not tackling inequality
-Scepticism from southern coutnries e.g. Spain and Italy and Greece went bankrupt
-northern countrues fed up with having to bail out coutnries that might be corrupt or suffer from weak rule of law
-Brexit - opposition to political union
-Central Europe with human rights struggles and post soviet rule, they lack rules of law
-Lower resilience since Covid

Question 10

What are the ways in which the EU aim of establishing an economic and monetary union has been met?

Answer 10

-The euro can replace national currencies if they’re abolished if they meet the mastricts treaty convergence criteria like having low inflation
-ECB - European Central Bank - implement monetary policy
-EMU - economic monetary union
-340 million people use it & second most traded currency in the world
-Promotes cross border economies of scale and supply chains
-21/27 use the euro - only Denmark has an opt out policy but the other 6 like Poland haven’t joined yet

Question 11

What are the ways in which the EU aim of establishing an economic and monetary union has not been met?

Answer 11

-The UK and Denmark opted out
-Less sovereignty so led to people actively avoiding meeting the convergence criteria
-Southern states have higher rates of inflation which causes stagnation of prices
-Sovereign debt crisis led to instability of the EMU
-2012 fiscal compact placed stricter rules on state budgets

Question 12

What are the ways in which the EU aim of establishing an area of freedom, security and justice without internal frontiers has been met?

Answer 12

-Schengen regime in 1985 guarantees free movement and enables every eu citizens to travel, work and live in an eu country (2014, 268,000 eu citizens went to the UK and 98,000 left the UK) and saves money on border checkpoints
-Asylum laws

Question 13

What are the ways in which the EU aim of establishing an area of freedom, security and justice without internal frontiers has not been met?

Answer 13

-ree movement and immigraiton policy controversial that it was one of the reasons why the UK left the Eu

Question 14

What are the ways in which the EU aim of combating discrimination and promoting equality has been met?

Answer 14

-EU citizenship applies to citizens of member states - EU citizens can move to another member state to work or reside there (Schengen)
-provision 19 of the TFEU (treaty on the functioning of the European Union) - grants the EU the competence to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation
-Discrimination agaisnt eu citizens on the grounds of nationality is prohibited
-Eu laws protect workers rights by limiting working hours, improving health and safety, and prohibiting discrimination in the workplace
-EU charter of fundamental rights 2000 - entrenched the ECHR, which includes freedom, equality and right to life
-Copenhagen criteria

Question 15

What are the ways in which the EU aim of combating discrimination and promoting equality has not been met?

Answer 15

-Hasn’t really discussed the exclusion and discrimination faced by the Roma community
-Muslim womne cannot were headscarves due to religious dress restriction like in france which has a negative imapct on their culture

Question 16

European Council

Answer 16

Decides on the general direction and priorities - its where leaders of the member states meet with the head of the EU council to set the political agenda of the EU

Question 17

European Commission

Answer 17

The organisation in the EU that proposes new laws but cannot vote for the new laws with each member state choosing someone to represent them in the Commission - they debate with Head Commissioner about which laws that think should be passed

Question 18

European Parliament

Answer 18

Elected MEPs sit here with each member state getting a number of representative MEPs depending on their population where they debate issues and make laws in coalition with the Council of the EU

Question 19

Council of European Union

Answer 19

Compromised of the national ministers of each member states, working in coalition with the European Parliament

Question 20

The European Court of Justice

Answer 20

1 judge from each member state is appointed here where they make srue that coutnries in the EU follow EU law

Question 21

3 principles that determine how and in what areas the EU may act? Define them?

Answer 21

1. Conferral - EU has only that authority conferred upon it by the EU treaties, which have been ratified by all member countries
2. Proportionality - EU action cannot exceed what is necessary to achieve the objectives of the treaties
3. Subsidiarity - areas where either the EU or national governments can act, the EU may intervene only if it can act more effectively

Question 22

What 3 UK policy areas were affected by the EU?

Answer 22

1. Social - working time directive implemented a max 48hr working week in 1998 & framework directive guaranteed workplace safety BUT opt out 1992 on Social Chapter of 1992 Maastricht Treaty due to impact on workers rights
2. Economy - the UK received £1 billion of funding for less developed regions like Wales and considered joining the euro under new labour BUT decided agaisnt it in 2003 which protected it agaisnt the problems of the eurozone in 2008
3. Immigration - freedom of movement prevented UK govenrment from restricting immigration from EU countries which meant that immigration from EU countries was around 190,000 in 2015 BUT didn’t join Schengen 1985

Question 23

What policy areas are there that only the EU can legislate on unless they authorise a country to adopt certain laws themselves (exclusive competence)?

Answer 23

-Customs union
-Competition rules for the single market
-Monetary policy for the eurozone countries
-Trade and international agreements (under certain circumstances)
-Marine plants and animals regulated by the common fisheries policy

Question 24

What policy areas are there that the EU and member countries can legislate on if the EU hasn’t proposed laws in that area (shared competences)?

Answer 24

-Single market
-Employment and social affairs
-Economic, social and territorial cohesion
-Agriculture
-Fisheries
-Environment
-Consumer protection
-Transport
-Trans-European networks
-Energy
-Justice and fundamental rights
-Migration and home affairs
-Public health (for the aspects defined in Article 168 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union)
-Research and space
-Development cooperation and humanitarian aid

Question 25

What policy areas are there where the EU can only support, coordinate or complement the action of member countries so not interfere with members (supporting competence)?

Answer 25

-Public Health -Industry -Culture -Tourism -Education and training, youth and sport -Civil protection -Administrative cooperation

Question 26

What policy areas are there where the EU plays a particular role or go beyond what is normally allowed under the treaties (special competences)?

Answer 26

-Coordination of economic and employment policies -Definition and implementation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy

Question 27

What are the 5 impacts of the EU on policy making?

Answer 27

1. UK policies impacted by the EU 2. Exclusive competences 3. Shared competences 4. Supporting competences 5. Special competences