What does the European Union's so-called 'democratic deficit' stem from, and how could it be tackled?
Essay - 6 pages - European union
One of the most important discussions in the modern-day European Union concerns the democratic deficit. The Maastricht treaty, which was signed on February 1992 by different European states, claims that the goal the EU is to create ‘an ever closer union among the peoples of...
The Euro: Costs & Benefits for France
Essay - 3 pages - Economy general
On the 1st of January 1999, the euro went into circulation as a common currency for eleven of the fifteen European Union countries, with Greece joining in 2001. France joined in 1999. The ratification of the Maastricht treaty in November of 1993 provoked the creation of the European...
The role of the ECJ's (European Court of Justice) : the consumer who is reasonably well-informed and reasonably observant and circumspect
Essay - 14 pages - European law
The legal term of the “average consumer” was created by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to protect the average consumer against unfair commercial practises. After the Second War World, many states were indeed inspired by Keynes's theory that aimed at division of resources and...
The Stability Pact
Essay - 5 pages - Constitutional law
“The Stability Pact is stupid, like all decisions that are rigid […]” this declaration made by Romano Prodi in an interview for the French newspaper: Le Monde in October 2002 had given a nasty turn to the economical and political European scene. This quotation of the former...
Which extension is possible for Europe and and with what consequences?
Thesis - 18 pages - Economy general
"A day will come when all the nations of the continent will merge strictly in a superior unity and will constitute the European brotherhood" it will have been necessary more than a century so that this premonitory speech of Victor Hugo pronounced in 1849, pass from utopia to the reality. The...
The economic, territorial, and cultural impact of the European Union on the Danish identity
Case study - 5 pages - European union
Created by the treaty of Rome in 1957, the European Union now has 25 member states. Over the years and decades, it has developed a wide range of policies with an emphasis on economic measures. The member states have had to adapt themselves to this new system of governance and to the...
The European Union and organized crime
Essay - 8 pages - European union
With French and Dutch voters' recent rejection of the proposed constitutional treaty for the European Union, a number of proposals in the field of Justice and Home Affairs have been watered down or considerably postponed. However, both EU leaders and the general public continue to place...
Describe the major differences in interests and perspectives of the member states of the European Union on Iraq and the US policy
Essay - 15 pages - International relations
The Iraq conflict uncovers difficulties for the member states of the European Union to find a common position in the context of the Common Foreign and Security Policy. This essay describes the major differences in the interest and perspectives of the member governments on Iraq, and the US policy....
The future of the state in a global context: Is the European Union a super state?
Thesis - 12 pages - European union
The organization of the world has been changing for the past few decades. Besides the nation sates, a lot of different forms of organization have been coming up. The development of international relations has brought about the need for organizations which enable cooperation between the national...
How an EU military could affect world peace through international law
Thesis - 12 pages - International law
There is no greater motivation for European unification than the desire for peace. Just like the UN, the EU wants to avoid the “scourge of war” for its future generations. In times of peace, the world forgets that the EU is not an economic coalition, but is instead a peaceful, foreign...
Can the European parliament ever break out of the cycle of failing public interests and legitimacy?
Thesis - 5 pages - European union
In one of his speeches, Pat Cox, the President of the European Parliament said ‘Turnout across Europe [in 1999] was higher than in the last US Presidential Elections, and I do not hear people questioning the legitimacy of the presidency of the United States.'. Since 1979, indeed, the...
The European citizenship
Essay - 3 pages - European union
According to the European Commission, “citizenship of the Union is both a source of legitimation of the process of European integration, by reinforcing the participation of citizens, and a fundamental factor in the creation among citizens of a sense of belonging to the European Union and of...
The evolution of the European Community / Union over the last 50 years
Thesis - 5 pages - European union
Fifty years after the Treaties of Rome (1957), the European Union has deeply evolved. From a regional economic cooperation, it has become a major international actor looking for re-launching its Constitutional process. If the European cooperation was a revolutionary concept after more than a...
The function of democratic control of the European Parliament - Analysis of S. Veil's speech
Essay - 3 pages - Political science
Since the origins of the building of the European Community, the idea of a direct election of the EP was present. In the Rome Treaty, the commitment to abolish the system of nominated members was settled, but no timetable was laid down. Thus, it occurred only in 1979, after the reluctance...
Does the EU need a European Identity? Why? Why not? Use concrete examples to support your line of argument
Essay - 5 pages - European union
In a European Union under construction, speaking about European Identity is essential. If it exists, it should be the expression of a dynamic link between Europeans. This identity is or would therefore be the creator of art and culture, a common political ethic, European citizenship, and common...
The European union and the third world: The case of the EU-ASEAN relations
Essay - 7 pages - European union
The European Union is a growing and developing organization which is becoming more and more important. That's why its relations with other countries in a more and more globalized world are also moving. The EU relations with the developing world are as old as its creation but they have undoubtedly...
Should we stick to the stability and growth Pact?
Thesis - 4 pages - European union
The Stability and Growth Pact is an essential element of the European Monetary Union and has been often criticized. One of the sharpest and most violent attacks came from the President of the European Commission, which is supposed to be the watchdog of the Treaties and laws, Romano Prodi who...
The impact of European Union Law on the world of sport in the context of sport regulation and restraint of trade since the Bosman decision.
Essay - 7 pages - International law
Under European Union law, Article 81 of the EC Treaty provides that all agreements between undertakings, decisions of undertakings and concerted practices which may affect trade between Member States and which have as their objective or effect the prevention, restriction or distortion of...
The High Representative of Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Essay - 5 pages - European union
This paper will examine the new role of The High Representative of Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (‘High Representative') that came into force in 2009 following the Lisbon Treaty signed in 2007. First, the historical background will be discussed followed by the...
The impact of European Union Law on the world of sport and the Bosman decision
Essay - 7 pages - International law
Under European Union law, Article 81 of the EC Treaty provides that all agreements between undertakings, decisions of undertakings and concerted practices which may affect trade between Member States and which have as their objective or effect the prevention, restriction or distortion of...
Is the European Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights a necessary and desirable development?
Thesis - 7 pages - Constitutional law
The Treaty of Lisbon came into force in 2009 and alongside it, a reference to the Charter of Fundamental Rights (Charter) gave it legal standing. The Charter became one of the most defining documents the European Union has ever witnessed, or a mere piece of symbolic literature that is...
French's rejection of the European Constitution
Case study - 5 pages - Educational studies
What is the research question in this article? Several months after the French referendum, Gilles Ivaldi is trying to answer to the question “How can we characterize the disapproval of the French referendum on the European Constitutional Treaty held on 29 May 2005?” The main...
Why has the Franco German partnership played such a pivotal role throughout the development of the European Community
Essay - 5 pages - International relations
After the end of the World War Two, France and Germany experienced hostile relations. Indeed, from 1945 to 1950, the two countries were both traumatized by the souvenir of their mutual occupation. On the French side, the Nazi's occupation had created a feeling of revenge, and on the German's one,...
The EU has no need for a common immigration policy
Essay - 4 pages - European union
In 1957, the Treaty of Rome mentioned the elimination of border controls within its territory as a goal of the EEC (European Economic Union). This implied that the member states would sooner or later have to address the question of deciding on common rules concerning access to their soil...
How successful are the attempts to create a citizenship of the European Union?
Essay - 4 pages - European union
Although the formal concept of European citizenship appeared for the first time in the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992, the idea thereof goes back to the early years of the European construction. The Treaty founding the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951 instituted a...
EU towards a federal state
Case study - 5 pages - European union
"Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity" (issued from Schuman Declaration on 9th May 1950). At the end of the Second World War, bruised, France, Germany, Benelux, and Italy,...
The implementation of the Third Pillar of the European Union in the United Kingdom
Essay - 15 pages - European union
The establishment of the European Union (EU) Policy within the third pillar of the United Kingdom (UK) has changed substantially over the past decades and more with the introduction of the Lisbon Treaty. Originally the UK had been reluctant to acknowledge or embrace European integration,...
What are the challenges facing the EU in its attempts to establish democratic institutional structures ?
Thesis - 7 pages - European law
“It is time to recognise that the Union has moved from a diplomatic to a democratic process, with policies that reach deep into national societies and daily life” . This statement by the European Commission subsumes ten years of political and academic on-going debate on the...
Critically evaluate the impact upon EC jurisprudence and legislation of the judgement of the European Court of Justice in REWE Zentral AG Bundesmonopolverwaltung fur Branntwein "Cassis de Dijon"
Essay - 7 pages - European law
Article 28 (ex-30) of the EC Treaty is one of the major principles governing the achievement in establishing the common market. It lays out a strong principle that imposes quantitative restrictions on imports and that all measures having equivalent effect will be prohibited between member...
The party of European socialists and the identity of European social democracy
Essay - 9 pages - Political science
The question wether there is currently something that can be called the crisis of social-democracy is arguable: after all, social-democractic and socialist parties are still the counterpart of Conservatives and Christian-democrats, sharing alternaltively government responsibilities at national...
