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European Union Evolution & Geopolitical Impact

Introduction
The European Union is over half-a-century old and has brought political stability & economic prosperity to its citizens. It has created a frontier-free single market and a single currency Euro. The EU is a major economic & commercial power and the world s biggest donor of development aid to poorer countries. Though richly diverse, EU countries are united in their commitment to peace, democracy, respect for human rights etc. The motto of EU is to uphold these values & exercise the member countries collective influence by acting together on the world stage.

Evolution
A peaceful Europe the beginnings of cooperation (1945 1959)
The European Union was set up with the aim of ending the frequent and bloody wars between neighbors, which culminated in the Second World War. As of 1950, the European Coal and Steel Community began to unite European countries economically and politically in order to secure lasting peace. The six founders were Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The 1950s were dominated by a cold war between east and west. Protests in Hungary against the Communist regime were put down by Soviet tanks in 1956; while the following year, 1957, the Soviet Union took the lead in the space race, when it launched the first man-made space satellite, Sputnik 1. Also in 1957, the Treaty of Rome creates the European Economic Community (EEC), or Common Market .

The Swinging Sixties

a period of economic growth (1960 1969)

The 1960s saw the emergence of 'youth culture , with groups such as The Beatles attracting huge crowd of teenage fans wherever they appear, helping to stimulate a cultural revolution and widening the generation gap. It was a good period for the economy, helped by the fact that EU countries stop charging custom duties when they traded with each other. They also agreed joint control over food production, so that everybody had enough to eat - and soon there was even surplus agricultural produce. May 1968 became famous for student riots in Paris, and many changes in society and behavior become associated with the so-called 68 generation .

A growing Community the first Enlargement (1970 1979)


Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined the European Union on 1 January 1973, raising the number of member states to nine. The short, yet brutal, Arab-Israeli war of October 1973 resulted in an energy crisis and economic problems in Europe. The last right-wing dictatorships in Europe came to an end with the overthrowing of the Salazar regime in Portugal in 1974 and the death of General Franco of Spain in 1975. The EU regional policy started to transfer huge sums to create jobs and infrastructure in poorer areas. The European Parliament increased its influence in EU affairs and in 1979 all citizens can, for the first time, elect their members directly.

The changing face of Europe - the fall of the Berlin Wall (1980 1989)
The Polish trade union, Solidarno , and its leader Lech Walesa, became household names across Europe and the world following the Gdansk shipyard struck in the summer of 1980. In 1981, Greece became the 10th member of the EU and Spain and Portugal followed five years later. In 1987 the Single European Act is signed. This was the treaty which provides the basis for a vast six-year program aimed at sorting out the problems with the free-flow of trade across EU borders and thus created the Single Market . There is major political upheaval when, on 9 November 1989, the Berlin Wall was pulled down and the border between East and West Germany opened for the first time in 28 years, and this lead to the reunification of Germany when both East and West Germany were united in October 1990.

A Europe without frontiers (1990 1999)


With the collapse of communism across Central and Eastern Europe, Europeans become closer neighbors. In 1993 the Single Market was completed with the 'four freedoms' of: movement of goods, services, people and money. The 1990s was also the decade of two treaties, the Maastricht Treaty on European Union in 1993 and the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1999. People were concerned about how to protect the environment and also how Europeans could act together when it came to security and matters of defense.

In 1995 the EU gained three more new members Austria, Finland and Sweden. A small village in Luxembourg gave its name to the Schengen agreements that gradually allowed people to travel without having their passports checked at the borders. Millions of young people studied in other countries with EU support. Communication was made easier as more and more people started using mobile phones and the internet.

A decade of further expansion (2000 today)


The euro became the new currency for many Europeans. EU countries began to work much more closely together to fight crime & terrorism after the 9-11 attacks. The political divisions between east and west Europe were finally declared healed when no fewer than 10 new countries join the EU in 2004. Many people thought that it was time for Europe to have a constitution but the details on the kind / scope of constitution was by no means easy to agree, and so the debate on the future of Europe is currently on.

Geopolitical Impact
The impact of this large populace can be measured as:

Population, Size & Life Expectancy


EU is lesser than half the size of the USA, but has more than 150% of its population. EU is the third largest after China & India. Also, EU covers more than 4 million sq. km & embraces 27 countries. People born in 2004 in EU are expected to live for 76 years (men), 82 years (women), whereas the same numbers in the US are 46 (men) and 49 (women). And this shows that the older population, which is large in number, has to be supported by the younger generation, which is smaller in number. And thus, the EU depends upon other developing countries to supply manpower to the EU. And this is also one primary reason for the formation of EU. For e.g. Germany needs other Eastern European countries to support with manpower so as to sustain its economy.

Economic activity & Trade


One of the main aims of EU is economic progress, and especially since 1980s, much has been done to break down the barriers & create a single market where goods, people, money & services can move around freely. Trade between EU countries has greatly increased and, at the same time, the EU has become a major world trading power. Free Market Health, Safety, Consumer & Environmental protection were initially defined to be essential requirements at the broader EU level. And then the Harmonization process i.e. Community acquis was initiated which led to defining of European standards, norms, labels like the CE certification for all electronic products. And such mutual recognition of standards led to the free market that it is now. Removing Obstacles: Customs Union The customs union was one of the EU s earliest milestones: it is a single trading area where all goods circulate freely, whether made within the EU or imported from outside. Internal border controls subsequently disappeared. Customs officers are now found only at the EU s external borders. The EU is constantly working on updating and automating procedures which will smooth trade across its internal and external borders. And thus businesses will be able to throw away all their paper customs forms. And within a few years, the customs networks of all member states will be fully integrated electronically, providing a one-stop-shop system for traders for their customs dealings throughout the EU. Tax policy The European tax policy ensures that competition between Member States on the internal market is not distorted by differences in indirect taxation rates and systems. Also, it prevents the adverse effects of tax competition in case of money transfer between European Union Member States linked to business. Results With the creation of a single market, the industry has become competitive. And some of the drastic price reductions have been witnessed in the recent times especially in the realm of air travel & communications. For e.g. after the EU formation, roaming charges across the different member countries has been decreased to 20 cents from 20 Euros. Also, these reductions vary across the different countries like international call prices in Netherlands reduced by 90% between 1997 and 2005 while the least change has been recorded in Latvia. The GDP (PPP) of EU is approximately 14.8 trillion USD in 2009, and GDP (Nominal) is 16.5 trillion USD. Although EU comprises only of 7% of world s population, its trade with the rest of the world constitutes of approximately a fifth of the global exports & imports. And trade amongst the member countries is two-thirds of the total trade done in Europe, owing to the single market formation.

Energy dependence
The overall level of the EU s reliance on imported energy was 52.3% and is forecasted to rise as domestic resources dwindle. At present, the EU gets about 50% of the gas it consumes from just three sources Russia, Norway and Algeria. To handle its growing import dependence, the EU is working hard to increase energy efficiency, develop renewable resources.

The EU has set a target of generating 21% of its electricity from renewable sources such as wind, solar, hydro, geo-thermal and biomass by 2010. And EU is focusing more on climate change related issues & thus plays an important role in the global arena. To reach the Kyoto protocol target of cutting their gas emissions by 8%, EU-15 countries have agreed upon a burden-sharing arrangement whereby the economically less advanced can still increase emissions while the rest reduce theirs. As a comparison Japan, under the Kyoto Protocol, has committed to a 6% reduction. The United States has not even ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

Results
According to an opinion poll, a majority of people in the EU (54%) consider their country has actually benefited from its membership of the Union. Here the strongest believers are in Ireland (87%), followed by newcomer Lithuania (77%), and then Denmark and Greece (both with 74%). The biggest skeptics are in Hungary, Sweden and the UK, where only 39 to 41% of those polled thought their country had benefited from being in the EU.

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