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Rachel Assaf
Ms. Ingram
English 1 Honors
18 March 2016
European Union
During the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin made one of the first political
cartoons. It symbolizes the colonies as parts of a snake that cannot survive unless they are
joined. The colonies decided to join and made the United States of America. Today the US is
one of the most powerful countries in the world. A new power has also emerged - the European
Union, or EU. A modern cartoon has been created, showing one of the member countries of this
union, Greece. It suggests that in order for Greece to survive, they must stop being part of the
European Union. This is part of an important question: is the European Union a good idea? The
European Union is not a good idea because its open border policy is harmful, its economic policy
is flawed, and its lawmaking policy decreases the powers of individual countries.
The EU is detrimental to its member countries due to the problems with its open border
policies. This issue has an enormous amount of importance because in total, a whopping 400
million people can travel freely in an area which spans over 1.6 million square miles. For many
Europeans, the [open border] zone has a remarkable symbolic power not so long ago [Europe]
was a continent that was physically divided by walls (Noack). However, the support for open
borders is depleting as doubts overshadow the benefits. Europe has experienced problems with
wars involving other nations, but the Union has not been helpful in stopping threats. In todays
world, the real threat to European countries is terrorist attacks which come from many different
nationalities and are not associated with any government. Therefore, the EU cannot pass

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sanctions against aggressor countries as they did in the past because the aggressors are from
many different countries. Furthermore, the terrorists have benefited from the open border policy.
In November 2015, Paris experienced one of the worst terrorist attacks the world has seen since
9-11. While these attacks were carried out in France, they were masterminded and prepared in
the neighboring EU country of Belgium (Shuster). The attackers crossed at the border and made
it through with bombs and guns. And while some people view this as an isolated incident that is
not representative of their experiences with open borders, France has been the site of five terror
attacks all within 2015 and they are willing to do anything to protect their country, including
closing their borders temporarily. Furthermore, there are other instances in which countries have
closed their borders despite of the EUs testification that open borders are non- negotiable
(Shuster). One such incident relates to immigration. The UK is a vital member of the EU, being
its second largest economy and a commanding presence on the stage of world relations. They
are pondering a split from the EU and will vote on this in a referendum to be held in June 2016.
One of the reasons they are pondering parting ways is because they are subject to large numbers
of immigrants that they can not support living in their country. These immigrants are protected
by strict EU labor laws (Bremmer). The UK has attempted to use its natural barrier of the
English Channel to stop the influx of immigrants, an act frowned upon by the EU. Countries are
forced to desperate means of avoiding complications caused by the open border policy. The
inability for the UK to support these immigrants further highlights the EUs inefficient economy.
The European Unions economic policy harms the economy of individual nations. It often
causes them to lose money, and prevents them from passing laws to fix this problem. According
to the magazine International Economy, the EU doesnt let individual governments change
interest rates, which can be used to regulate economies (Feldstein). Countries, without access to

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this resource, often lose money when they can prevent the situation if they dont have the ban on
interest change. Supporters of the European Union argue that this is necessary to protect the
stability of the union, but evidence proves otherwise. Several member countries, such as Greece,
have faced financial crises that they could have prevented with use of interest rates. Furthermore,
the European Union is not able to have a fully integrated and functional economic system
because they lack infrastructure for labor mobility. The unemployed workers of Greece,
Portugal, and Spain do not move to faster-growing regions of Europe because of differences in
language, history, religion, union membership, and so on (Feldstein). This means that workers
are often at a disadvantage. The European Union has several flaws such as these within their
economic policy that harm individual nations.
The European Union can deplete the individual powers of its members. Not only are they
prevented from creating their own laws about their economy, they are also restricted in all other
lawmaking processes. There are several phases of the lawmaking process. A regulation is a law
created by the European Council and every country must implement it (European Union). Under
no circumstances can a country be exempt from applying it, even when the implementation can
be costly and financially burdensome. The next level of the lawmaking process is a directive, or
a legislative act that sets out a goal that all EU countries must achieve. However, it is up to the
individual countries to devise their own laws on how to reach these goals (European Union).
This is even more difficult on a country because not only do they have the financial strain of
creating programs for the goal, but their individual governing bodies must spend the time to draft
and create the legislation. Further lawmaking processes include the decision, which applies to
only certain countries, which have the same problems as a directive. Although some people state
that these are simply guidelines given by the EU to improve the union, they often have the

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opposite effect and can be very burdensome on countries, hindering their own lawmaking
agendas. All of these lawmaking policies have far reaching effects, especially because they are
obligatory orders that must be followed.
The European Union, although a world power, has several fundamental flaws that
indicate it is not a good idea. These include open border policy problems, economic damages to
countries, and laws that restrict the powers of individual nations. While many people have
commented on this problem, including the person who created the modern take on the snake
cartoon, more conversation is needed. The European Union is in all ways detrimental and is not
a good idea.

Works Cited
Bremmer, Ian. This Summit Could Decide Whether the European Union Remains
United. Time. 18 Feb. 2016: n. pag. Web. 1 March 2016. <http://time.com>.
Economic and Financial Affairs: The euro. European Commission. European
Commission, n.d. Web. 1 March 2016. <http://ec.europa.eu>.

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Feldstein, Martin. The Euros Fundamental Flaws. International Economy 24.2 (2007):
11-12. Sirs Researcher. Web. 1 March 2016. <http://sks.sirs.com/>.
Maza, Cristina. "Can Energy Unite a Divided Europe?." Christian Science Monitor. 02
Feb. 2016: n/a. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 1 March 2016. <http://sks.sirs.com/>.
Pinder, John. European Union: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2001. Print.
Regulations, Directives and Other Acts. European Union. European Union, n.d. Web.
17 March 2016. <http://ec.europa.eu>.
Shattock, Alex. Better Off On The Relay Team: 10 reasons why the EU is good for
Britain. LabourList. N.p. 16 May 2013. Web. 1 March 2016. <http://labourlist.org/>.
Shuster, Simon. Free Travel in Europe Could Be a Casualty of the Paris Attacks. Time
14 Nov. 2015: n. pag. Web. 1 March 2016. <http://time.com>.
Witte, Griff. "A U.K. Vote on Going Solo Could Sink E.U." Washington Post. 04 Jan.
2016: A.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 1 March 2016. <http://sks.sirs.com/>.