Introduction
The concept of a common European body was first mooted by the then French Foreign Minister, Robert Schuman on May 9, 1950. (The Symbols of the EU).
It was first considered to end warfare and to enforce a common identity among the European community. The six founder members were France, Germany, Luxemburg, Belgium, Italy, and Netherlands.
Today this figure has swelled up to 27 countries who hold membership in the EU and they are United Kingdom, Sweden, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, the Netherlands, Hungary, Greece, Italy, Finland, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania, Malta, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Denmark, and Belgium. (European Countries).
It is seen that most of the laws governing the EU are gained from Treaties.
However, the European Parliament, European Commission, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the Directives that are issued, bind the member countries.
The “traditional” right to free movement means that no special formalities are required in order to enter any EU member state other than to hold valid travel papers. This fundamental right extends to members of an EU citizen’s family without any kind of prejudice to their nationality, or country of origin within the EU member state. It is also seen that there are no internal restrictions on traveling in locations within the EU, but there may be external border checks, etc in order to authenticate the genuineness of people coming into the EU member states.
The main issue that arose, post World War II, was the legacy of a war torn Europe, where individual countries were not in a position to solve their economic and social problems by themselves. Added to this was the polarization of the two Superpowers, USSR and USA, with the USA dominating western hemisphere, and the USSR, the eastern bloc. There was no doubt in the minds of most governments that the cold war would be a long drawn affair, and American hegemony needed to be neutralized, if not effectively controlled.
Since the economies of most European countries were badly mauled after the war, it became necessary to establish the European Coal and Steel community during 1951, the first intent of the European integration process. Again, in 1957, with the set up of European Economic Community (EEC) following the Treaty of Rome, this received a major stimulus. The present EC could be said to be a successor of the EEC, and to a reasonable extent, could be said to be a successful European organization.
The three pillars that underpin EU endeavors
It is now necessary to consider the Three Pillars which embody the EU as enunciated in the Treaty of Maastricht, which underpins the European Treaty.
The three pillars are:
- PILLAR 1- Community pillar which consists of the European Union, (EU) the European Atomic Energy Commission (EURATOM) and the European Coal & Steel Commission (ECSC)
- PILLAR 2- The enunciation of a common foreign and maritime policy envisaged under Title V of the EU treaty
- PILLAR 3- The pillar devoted to law enforcement, viz. police and the jurisprudential understanding and cooperation in matters of dealing with crime in society found in Title VI of the EU treaty. (Pillars of the European Union).
Membership in single European market
One of the main aspects that underlie the formation of the EU, and in effect the European Commission, is the establishment of a common European market that would substantially break barriers to trade and establish just and equitable tariffs that are applicable to all member states.
The need for a common market for Europe is the denominating factor, especially in the post World War II scenario, where it became necessary to feed the millions of people in Europe who were displaced during the war, and common agricultural and trade practices became essential and imperative. (Pinder, and Usherwood).
By establishing a common market it is believed that the movements of goods, services, people and currencies would be smoothened, inasmuch as now the costs of airfares and telephone calls within the EU Member states have been slashed by 50%. Through the establishment of a common market, what was intended was that the imbalances between member states be corrected and the entire EU Member states adopt consistent and standard laws that could be easily replicated all over the EU countries. While the idea was indeed impressive, its implementation was difficult, since it became necessary to scrap or amend national laws to accommodate EU conventions. Again, members differed over several economic and trade matters and legal recourse needed to be taken by the ICJ to solve differences amongst members.
Free movement of citizens across European Union (EU) member countries
It is seen that free movement of citizens has been a dream of founding patriarchs of the EU, way back in the 1950’s. However, it could not be enforced until
Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April
2004 came into force. (Free Movement within the EU – a Fundamental Right).
At the beginning, the aspect of free movement was restricted to working people but later on, this was broadened to include all kinds of movements, including families, etc. The activities of the European Union to protect the environment will affect the quality of life of the current and future generations. The main goals are combating climatic changes, protecting biodiversity, minimizing pollution and better use of natural resources. (Activities of the European Union Environment).
Criminal laws regarding the protection of the environment are established. This makes the system more efficient in protecting the environment. The main activities that are considered as criminal offences are illegal disposing of radio active elements, activities that result in death or harms to the people, pollutes air, water or soil and harms the environment or animals. Also, the slaughter or destruction of protected animals and plants, illegal trafficking and also the illegal manufacturing and usage of products that deplete the ozone layer are offensive. This is adapted to protect the environment and has been a very effective process. (EU Directive on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law).
Equality of the people
The European Union has a well defined constitution that makes the European society. It has a clear-cut idea about equality of the people. The EU has trans-nationalized society and has established the concept of equality for all European citizens. The treaties show that the union has extended the concept of equality among all European citizens, gradually over a period of time, replacing the nation-state concept of equality.
The nationally limited equality gives equal chance to all citizens living within the state, differentiating them from other European citizens. The EU has changed this concept and equality has been established between every states of Europe. This is a gradual process and presently does not imply in the case of national elections. But in the job market, this concept is implied and it has revolutionized the European market. Whether the people support this idea of the EU regarding equality is a major concern. What is their attitude on the idea of other European citizens enjoying the same job and opportunity as well or do they support nationally bounded equality that differentiates between nationals and foreigners. Surveys show that not many citizens support the idea of equality, mainly due to the differences between the countries. Also, this can lead to greater competition in the employment area and hence people who are insecure about their job might oppose this idea. But otherwise this is a revolutionary idea that can offer more jobs to the poorer section and hence can benefit everyone by leading to the availability of cheaper goods and services.
Turkey’s inclusion into the EU
Turkey is one among the many new member states that joined the EU. In a survey conducted, only one-third of the people supported this idea of including Turkey. (European Integration and the Idea of Equality).
The EU believes that none of the citizens should be prevented from benefiting from or contributing to the economical and social development. The Social Inclusion Process was found in 2000 with the concept of removing poverty by the year 2010. The main goals to be met include eradicating child poverty, making labor markets truly inclusive, making sure that everyone has decent housing, overcoming discrimination and tackling financial exclusion and over-indebtedness.
When several countries agree to share a single currency among them, that situation is called a monetary union. The Euro is the EU’s single currency and it is used by most of the member states. After a period of some years, the euro is expected to compete with the US dollar. A single currency system leads to the establishment of a single market. (Dermine, and Hillion, 27).
EU views may not take in a global perspective
It would not be wrong to state that there are founded fears that the EU membership, could to a large extent, be termed as a regional or insular organization which, while furthering the interests of its membership, may actually isolate the European community from the rest of the civilized world. While trade build ups within states would prosper, the wider context of European interactions with the world community would tend to be ignored, or lowered.
It is seen that such fears need to be dispelled, especially in the present form of global business, irrespective of parochial considerations, however well founded and intended they may be.
Conclusions
In retrospect, it could be seen that the very fundamental purpose of the inception of the EU has been to prevent war that existed at that juncture of history, especially between Germany and France, and also the grave consequences that war had wrought on most European countries. No matter how hard they tried, successive governments could not effectively address social and economic problems in a war torn region, besides the domestic problems of unemployment, low trade and animosity and absence of trade links, between even neighbors. Thus, the precursor of the EU, the EEC played a pivotal role in laying the foundations for the future EU, which is serving the European community as well as it possibly could, under the present global situation. It was necessary for Europe to unite, not only to save the civilized world from yet another major catastrophe, The Third World War, but also for Europe to regroup and integrate in the common interests of its citizens. Over its eventful and chequered history, the EU has been able to provide legal and administrative succor, not only to individuals and agencies in member states, but also usher in an era of peace, prosperity, social and economic development to the people of these regions.
The EU ethos of free movement of currency, people, trade services, and capital has ensured that most barriers are dismantled, and even customs duties among member states have been rationalized and made equitable and uniform. Despite the fact that EU has not found favor with many countries, either outside the EU membership states or outside the European blocs, it has carried out its vision and mission with perspicacity and quiet determination, much to the chagrin of other countries that could not integrate and regroup themselves economically. This could be seen in the context of many legal confrontations that have dogged the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in its eventful history and many cases that have remained unsolved due to the intractable nature of its surrounding history and sequences of events. It needs to be said that arguments heard before the ECJ or other competent courts need to have litigants who may need to make concessions and allowances, to allow the legal course to move along, but this depends not only upon the litigants themselves, but also in terms of their respective governments and authorities.
However, it is necessary that the EU acts with dispassion and equanimity in dealing with cases placed before it, and endorsing the highest standards of jurisprudential application in the settlement of litigation.
A common ground of complaint may lie in the fact that wherein disputes involve member and non member states, the EU courts may manifest a marked proclivity to side with the litigants or agencies belonging to EU states and perhaps not in the best interests of justice, equity and good conscience. These aspects need to be rectified and the process of justice, in the larger context of global activities needs to be enforced.
The other aspect that needs to be considered is whether, in the modern context, rest of Europe needs to have a European Union, where borderless traveling and duty free trade and commercial transactions do take place. It could be argued that membership in the EU needs to meet and fulfill a large number of criteria and nobody could get a membership within a short term. Besides, the views of the other member states, whether to accept, or decline membership to such kinds of unions need to be considered.
While EU has restrictive membership practices and members need to abide by directives of the European convention, European Parliament and the directives from time to time, it would be difficult for non-EU members of Europe to convene to form an alternative to the EU, not only in terms of geographical locations but also in terms of a coherent, cohesive trade and commercial policies and procedures that could be binding in nature.
The Rest of Europe, in most probability, exclusive of EU memberships, needs to regroup, outside the ambit of EU, in order to form another European convention independent of member states of the present EU. However, given the task at hand and the implications, directly or indirectly that impinge upon it, it is indeed a daunting task, given the fact that such states may have contractual obligations with EU member states which it may not be able to renege.
Coming to the issue of EUNYUL , it is also seen that more memberships may be forthcoming (10 nations joined in 2006) and in all probability, most of the major European countries would be joining the EU by 2020, which leaves little room for the constitution and inception of any other European body.
Moreover, it is also seen that given the kind of recessionary trend that has gripped the world, developed countries in particular; the validity of another EU type organization is a matter of ardent conjecture if not of limited practical feasibility and implementation.
Works Cited
- Activities of the European Union Environment: In Brief. Europa. 2009. Web.
- Dermine, Jean., and Hillion, Pierre. European Capital markets with a Single Currency. Oxford University Press. 1999. Web.
- EU Directive on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law. EU business. 2009. Web.
- European Integration and the Idea of Equality. All Academic Research. 2009.
- European Countries. Europa.2009. Web.
- European Countries: The EU at a Glance. Europa. 2009. Web.
- Free Movement within the EU – a Fundamental Right. Freedom, Security and Justice. 2009.
- Pillars of the European Union. Europa: Glossary. 2009. Web.
- Pinder, John., and Usherwood, Simon McDougall. The European Union: a Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. 2nd Edition. 2007. Web.
- The Symbols of the EU. Europa. 2009. Web.