The European Union(EU) is an economic and political union of 27 members states which are located primarily in Europe. the EU operates through a system of supranational independent institutions and intergovernmental negotiated decisions by the member states of supranational independent institutions and intergovernmental negotiated decisions by the member states.Important institutions of the EU includes the European Commission,the Council of the European Union,the European Council ,the Court of Justice of the European Union,and the European Central Bank.The European Parliament is elected every five years by EU citizens.The EU's de facto capital is Brussels.
The Advantages of Being a Part of the European Union
To begin with,the European single market is the first
advantage of being a member of the EU,according to Europa (2009) the EU member
states have formed a single market with more than 500 million people.
This enable companies to trade in the international market,in addition he mentions that without this platform,competing individually and
making products and services in the EU states would be more
expensive and difficult. Derhan(2010) in his article,
“European Union: Risk
-
Benefit Analysis”, says that both EU citizens and
businesses have the benefits of the single market. According
to him, 2.15% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) comes from the money that
citizens get from the single market which was approximately 708 EUROS per person
in 2006. In addition to this, the single market has contributed to reduce the
number of unemployed. According to CEC (2008) as result of the Lisbon
Strategy, more than six million jobs were created in the last decade and the
European industry has contributed a lot to increase the number of jobs within European Member States.
Another two advantages of the European Union relate to science and citizenship. In science, national budgets are being seriously cut so that research--for example, into dark matter--is being sorely impacted with facilities being closed because funding has stopped. The EU has its own science research funding and therefore can buffer some of the negative affect of nations' budget cuts. Regarding citizenship, travel and work between member nations is unrestricted, so people facing economic difficulties and unemployment in their home nations may more easily move between nations to find employment.
Disadvantages of being a member of EU.
- Cost. The EU costs the UK £6.4bn. The Bruges (which is an anti European group claim the cost per head of EU membership is £873, but according to Foreign and Commonwealth office the cost is about £300 per head
- Inefficient Policies. A large percentage of EU spending goes on the Common Agricultural Policy. For many years this distorted agricultural markets by placing minimum prices on food. This lead to higher prices for consumers and encouraging over-supply. Reforms to CAP have reduced, but not eliminated this wastage.
- Problems of Euro. Membership of the EU doesn't necessarily mean membership of the Euro. But, the EU has placed great emphasis on the Single Currency. However, it has proved to have many problems.
- Net Migration. Free Movement of Labor has caused problems of overcrowding in UK cities. The UK's population is set to rise to 70 million over next decade, partly due to immigration. This has pushed up house prices and led to congestion on roads.
- More bureaucracy less democracy.
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http://europa.eu
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http://www.economicshelp.org
en.wikipedia.org
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