On the 28th of March 2001, Lionel Jospin, the French Prime Minister made an interesting
declaration: 'Europe is more than a market. It stands for a model of society that has grown
historically.' . This statement refers to the development of the European Coal and Steel Community
(ECSC) in 1951 into the European Union (EU) that we know today. This development has been far
from easy and steady and has depended on various factors such as international relations and
international issues, the performances of the European Community, the member states and the
leaders of the member states and the Community. Those factors have whether accelerated and
facilitated the development of the EU or hindered it.
[...] It suggests one reason for which the development of the EU has been so uneven. Since the beginning, the member states and the EU institutions do not have a clear idea of the direction of the development of the EU (in a federalist direction? supranational?), partly because of the diversity of cultures and histories that compose it. Because there is not a clear definition of what the EU is or of where it is going, member states and the EU itself can not have a consistent policy Bibliography. [...]
[...] and Ian Bache Politics in the European Union. Oxford : Oxford University Press. Pp. 96-113. Glenn, J. 'EU Enlargement' in Cini, M European Union Politics. Oxford : Oxford University Press, pp. 211-228. Habermas, J 'Why Europe Needs a Constitution'. New Left Review : 5-26 Hudson, R 'One Europe or Many ? Reflections on Becoming European'. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. New Series, Vol No Junge, K. 'Differentiated Integration' in Cini, M European Union Politics. [...]
[...] Since its establishment , the European Union has been struck by other international events. One of the most known events is the collapse of the Bretton Woods System in 1971 (which had assured a relative economic stability since 1945 up to the end of the 1960s). When President Nixon suspended the convertibility of the dollar , this led to economic instability. In combination with the 1973 oil crisis, when the OPEC states quadrupled the price of petroleum , it undermined economic integration in the EC because of the economic downturn. [...]
[...] Because this treaty institutionalised many changes, the EU has had to recover from and implement all those changes (the second and third pillars and the institutional changes to prepare the EU for enlargement) The development of the EU does not depend only on its achievements. In fact, it naturally largely depends on its constituents, the states. States can either accelerate or impede the development of the EU. They accelerated it when, after the economic crisis of the 1970s, their economies were on the 'upswing' and they decided to complete the internal market and face together the challenge of globalisation . [...]
[...] It has more or less been imposing the pace of EU development by forcing its opinion on the state. There was a real enthusiasm when it started but as soon as the late 1960s , the public opinion soured because of the economic crisis of the 1970s. When the economic situation improved, public opinion supported the EU (Helmut Khol, Mitterrand and Felipe Gonzalez were elected in the 1980s) . With the economic recession of the 1990s, public support declined once again. [...]
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