Essay on "European Union Economy Issues and Policies"
Essay 10 pages (2858 words) Sources: 10
[EXCERPT] . . . .
country leave the EU or the euro zone?This policy paper is for the attention of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron. It explores whether the UK should depart from the European Union amidst the Eurozone crisis.
Position: The UK should leave the European Union. The costs and risks accompanying membership in the EU is simply not worth the benefits for the UK. Contributions to the EU common fund are a significant drain on the UK and are disproportionately spent in areas which are irrelevant to the UK, such as agricultural subsidies. The benefits that the UK seeks from EU membership, regional security and free trade, are now either the norm or can be achieved through alternative means, such as through trade agreements. Neither is EU membership likely to yield greater benefits in the future, as there is little in the EU economic plan to indicate that it will help its members keep pace with emerging global competitors. With its own economic struggles to deal with, the UK can no longer afford to commit such resources and energies to such a fruitless relationship.
Introduction
The European Union represents an unprecedented endeavor in political and economic organization. An economic and political association between 27 different European nations, the existence of the EU is seen by many as evidence that the world may one day move beyond Nationalism and the political strife associated with it.
However, recent economic struggles, resulting in the current Eurozone crisis, have revealed the deep flaws inherent in such a supra-national entity. In fact, it has cast the EU more as an imbalanced associati
Continue scrolling to
on of self-interested and divergent nation-states.download full paper ⤓
Background
It has been called a supranational political entity, meaning it exercises a layer of governmental authority on top of the national layer in each member country. This supranational authority only attaches to certain governmental functions.
The E.U.'s most established powers at this point are economic, including free trade between its members, free movement between its member's borders, and a common currency shared by 16 of its members.
The common Euro Zone currency and the free movement of its citizens between national borders are perhaps the strongest indicators that the EU is a cohesive political unit.
Key Developments
At the end of World War II, many of the European nations damaged by the war resolved to end the animosity caused by this competition between nations. Recognizing the wisdom of the political maxim, "When goods don't cross borders, armies will," six European nations formed the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951: France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg. These countries expanded their cooperation by adding the European Economic Commission and the European Atomic Energy Commission, which were collectively referred to as the European Communities by 1967.
The success of the European Communities attracted interest from other European countries. Membership increased to most encompass most of Western Europe by 1985, culminating in the Shengen Agreement, which laid the foundation for free movement between borders in Europe.
In 1993, these agreements and communities were officially formalized as the European Union.
Perhaps the most significant, and tangible, commitment EU countries have made to the supranational ideal is the establishment of a common currency called the Euro. This is literally putting your money where your mouth is, as people can now feel the legitimacy of the EU when they trade their currency into Euros when visiting a country in the Eurozone. However, 11 of the 27 EU nations have decline to enter the Eurozone currency arrangement, including the U.K., Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Sweden.
The fence-sitting by important economic powers like the U.K. And Sweden as well as the ineligibility of Lithuania, Romania, and Estonia has highlighted the many political and cultural divisions still in play.
Analysis
Cost of European Union
The EU imposes many large and unfair economic burdens on urbanized countries such as the United Kingdom. One particularly egregious burden is the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which sets standard crop prices and provides price support (subsidies) to farmers to resolve any resulting disparities. The CAP's objectives include increasing agricultural production, providing certainty in food supplies, ensuring a high quality of life for farmers, stabilizing markets, and ensuring reasonable prices for consumers.
It was, until recently, operated by a system of subsidies and market intervention. Until the 1990s, the policy accounted for over 60% of the then European Community's annual budget, and still accounts for around 34%.
Although the agricultural industry employs only 5% of EU citizens and generates 1.6% of GDP 45% of EU spending went towards the CAP in 2006.
The UK economy derives little benefit from the CAP's agricultural subsidies because its economy relies on finance, professional services, high-technology manufacturing, and media. Rather, the CAP, developed by Germany and France, benefits states with large agricultural sectors such as France, Spain, and Germany.
The market is not allocating resources effectively in the agricultural industries of the EC because of the current CAP. The attraction of agricultural subsidies results in a decline in agriculture in regions like the UK and overly intensive farming practices in regions such as France. This imbalance and intensification generates pollution, animal diseases and poorer food safety in the European region. The CAP is ill-advised for the EU as well as unfair to the UK.
The current CAP has been held together artificially through powerful political interests long entrenched in the EU. Major beneficiaries such as Germany and France were and still are the most powerful European Union members. Within these countries is the farming lobby which pressures EU representatives to secure the agricultural subsidies permitted under the CAP. Because traditional powers such as Germany and France, through their relative stability, have actually managed to become more influential during the Eurozone crisis, it is unlikely that representatives from those countries will feel compelled to give up profitable policy positions.
The Value of the EU for Promoting Trade
Free Trade Benefits of EU Membership
For developed EU members, the EU provides access to include unexplored, emerging markets provides many important benefits. First, common membership in the EU provides them with equal terms of competition in the enlarged market. Also, it gives them access to a pool of labor as qualified for certain industries but cheaper. Finally, they can sell their own products in the newly accessible emerging markets, which will actually grow as the new members develop their economies under the EU.
EU membership brings capital investment as well as a transfer of skills and technology. Enlargement allows new members access to the more prosperous consumer markets of existing EU countries. In 2007, almost 80% of exports of the new Member States went to the rest of the EU. Old Member States also saw their sales to the new members increase to around 7.5% of their total exports in 2007, from 4 ae % a decade ago.
Although the EU unquestionably provides many free-trade benefits to the U.K., the U.K. has alternative trade options. First, there are other trade agreements such as the WTO and regional free trade agreements such as the FETA which can accomplish similar free trade concessions without committing Britain.
The Effects of the EU on Trade
The EU is not an effective framework for preparing the UK for increasing global competition from Asia and Latin America. The EU has been valuable primarily for countries specializing in manufacturing and other scale-intensive industries.
Since 1979, the UK has moved away from supporting manufacturing and have focused instead on the financial sector. The UK obtains revenue from exporting financial services while recording deficits in finished goods and commodities, including food.
In 2007, the UK had the world's third largest current account deficit, due mainly to a large deficit in manufactured goods. The UK's account deficit is actually exacerbated by membership in the EU and increased access to the UK economy by German and French manufacturers. .
Also, the value of the EU in promoting trade is limited to the EU for the most part. Membership in the EU is essential if a country's economy is heavily reliant on intra-Europe trade, as France's economy is. Even Germany's economy, which produces globally competitive products, derives a significant portion of its trade from within Europe.
The UK economy, because of its focus on finance, is much more globally-oriented than any other EU country. Thus, membership in the EU is not nearly as crucial for the more globally-oriented UK and may even be restrictive in certain regards.
Although departure from the EU could diminish UK access to European financial markets, the UK and its many powerful financial firms are still crucial to the global economy and cannot be excluded without harm to EU markets themselves. The UK's strength in the financial sector does not come from its integration with the European community, although it has been aided by it. Rather, the UK's strength in finance comes from the extensity of the British Commonwealth, giving rise to… READ MORE
Quoted Instructions for "European Union Economy Issues and Policies" Assignment:
“This module is assessed on the basis of a single piece of coursework. For this assessment you are required to write a 3000 word policy paper to a stakeholder of your choice (e.g. European Commissioner, Head of Member State) which provides a critical discussion of one of the following key issues:
*****¢ Should succession countries join the European Monetary Union?
*****¢ Should the CAP be reformed, and if so why and how?
*****¢ What are the economic arguments for further enlargement of the EU?
*****¢ Is the further emergence of global competitors (e.g. India or China) going to threaten the economic competitiveness of the EU?
*****¢ Should any country leave the EU or the euro zone
The assessment should be written in report style, and make appropriate use of relevant material, data, charts and diagrams.
Your policy paper will be assessed on the basis of the extent to which the policy paper:
*****¢ Provides a clear outline of the aim and focus of the policy paper;
*****¢ Provides an in-depth consideration of the relevant themes and ideas that are pertinent to the issue under consideration;
*****¢ Makes good use of relevant data, charts and diagrams to support the central narrative contained with the policy paper;
*****¢ Provides a critical and analytical discussion of the relevant issues;
*****¢ Appropriately references the arguments contained within the policy paper using a wide range of sources;
*****¢ Provides a clear, structured and coherent review and analysis of the relevant issues.
Submission Deadline: Your policy paper should be submitted by 5 pm on 10th May 2012.
In order to pass this module, students are required to achieve an overall mark of 40%.
Guidance for assessment
How to approach the assignment:
The best way to approach this assignment is to imagine that you are a policy advisor who has expertise in the area of economics and the European Union. You have been commissioned by a stakeholder organisation to write a policy paper on their behalf that explores one of the policy questions outlined above. Your policy paper will form the briefing that representatives of that organisation will use to inform their discussions the next time they are participating in a key European Union summit or meeting.
A policy paper is designed to provide the policy stakeholder organisation with some advice about what view they should take on a specific policy issue. A policy paper primarily concerns the development of a policy argument which is based upon three components:
*****¢ A policy position (i.e. what you think the policy stance of the organisation should be in relation to the policy issue under consideration);
*****¢ Reasons for this position (i.e. what are the arguments for and against the organisation adopting this viewpoint?);
*****¢ Next steps (i.e. what should the organisation recommend should happen next in relation to this issue?).
Let us assume that the policy issue under consideration is as follows:
Should there be restrictions on the movement of labour within the EU on economic grounds?
Let us now suppose that you have been asked by the finance minister of France to prepare a policy paper on this issue for the forthcoming Council of Ministers meeting. You need to obviously start off preparing for this task by undertaking some research. Firstly you need to find out the official legal position in relation to the EU Constitution and legislation regarding the freedom of movement of labour. Secondly you need to find out whether any Member State can impose restrictions on either the volume of labour movement, the skills profile of the migrant labour, or where the migrant labour is coming from. Finally you need to read the relevant economic literature on labour movement in relation to economic productivity and the operation of economic markets ***** and discover if there are any economic barriers to the free movement of labour.
Having examined all of these issues, you can now construct your policy argument and write your policy paper. You decide that the finance minister of France should oppose the restriction of movement of labour within the EU on economic grounds (policy position) because it will increase economic productivity, reduce costs, and solve the imbalances in employment within certain regions or sectors of the economy (reasons for policy position) ***** and that France should take direct steps to (a) prevent Member States from restricting the flow of migrant labour from Eastern Europe; and (b) provide specialist programmes of support to help migrant workers settle in France (next steps)
You now have your policy argument in a concise format. Now you need to simply develop each component of your policy argument. The reasons for policy position element of the policy argument is going to form the largest component of your policy paper. Although you are trying to set out reasons and arguments for adopting the chosen policy position, you must remember that you will also need to consider and set out the arguments against your adopted policy position and why you have rejected these arguments.
It really doesn*****t matter which stakeholder organisation you write your policy paper for ***** but obviously they should be an organisation which has an interest in the policy issue under consideration (i.e. it would look a bit odd if you wrote a policy paper on reforming the CAP which was addressed to the Defence Minister of a Member State!).
What should my policy paper look like?
The policy paper should be written in a report format, and make appropriate use of sections, headings and sub-headings to set out different components of the policy argument. Your policy paper should be addressed to your chosen policy stakeholder organisation and should start off be setting out the purpose of the policy paper e.g.
This policy paper is for the attention of the Finance Minister of France, and is designed to explore whether France should support the restriction of the movement of labour within the EU.
You should make appropriate use of relevant sources and data, and you should use tables, charts, diagrams when these are the most effective way of communicating this information.
How do I know whether my policy paper has achieved its objectives?
Although it is very hard to remove yourself from a piece of assessed work that you have spent a lot of time researching and writing, the best way of testing whether your policy paper has achieved its objectives is to forget that you have written the paper and pretend you are the stakeholder organisation that the paper is written for. If you were the finance minister for France, would you have a clear understanding of (a) what was being recommended; (b) why was it being recommended; and (c) what should be done next on the basis of reading your policy paper? If the answer is yes, then your policy paper has met its objectives. If the answer is no, then you need to go back and look at the clarity of what you have written and see whether any of the sections need revising.
Finally check the assessment criteria set out for this assignment in your module handout to make sure that you have not missed anything out!
Important: All coursework assignments and other forms of assessment must be submitted by the published deadline which is detailed above. It is your responsibility to know when work is due to be submitted ***** ignorance of the deadline date will not be accepted as a reason for late or non-submission.
All student work which contributes to the eventual outcome of the module (ie: if it determines whether you will pass or fail the module and counts towards the mark you get for the module) is submitted via the iCentre using the formal submission sheet Academic staff CANNOT accept work directly from you.
If you decide to submit your work to the iCentre by post, it must arrive by midday on the due date. If you elect to post your work, you do so at your own risk and you must ensure that sufficient time is provided for your work to arrive at the iCentre. Posting your work the day before a deadline, albeit by first class post, is extremely risky and not advised.
Any late work (submitted in person or by post) will NOT be accepted and a mark of zero will be awarded for the assessment task in question. You are requested to keep a copy of your work.
General EU Economics textbooks (the first five are particularly good):
*****¢ Pelkmans, J. (2006) European Integration: Methods and Economic Analysis, 3rd ed. Pearson. (At the time of writing, the exact publication date of this 3rd edition had not been confirmed).
*****¢ Baldwin, R. and C. Wyplosz (2004) The Economics of European Integration. McGraw Hill.
*****¢ El-Agraa, A. (2004) The European Union: Economics and Policies, 7th edition. Prentice Hall.
*****¢ Hitiris, T. (2003) European Union Economics, 5th edition. FT Prentice Hall.
*****¢ McDonald, F. and S. Dearden (2005) European Economic Integration, 4th edition. FT Prentice Hall. (This is especially useful for part of the EMU lectures).
*****¢ Barnes, I. and P. Barnes (1995) The Enlarged European Union. Longman. (This is a good lower level text).
*****¢ Artis, M. and F. Nixson (2001) The Economics of the European Union, 3rd ed. Oxford.
*****¢ Neal, L. and D. Barbezat ( 1998) The Economics of the European Union and the Economies of Europe. Oxford.
*****¢ Hansen, J. D. (ed) (2001) European Integration: An Economic Perspective. Oxford. (This is an excellent book but is more advanced and technical than the others and only covers some topics).
EU Trade policies:
*****¢ Aggarwal, V. K. and E. A. Fogarty (2004) EU Trade Strategies: Between Regionalism and Globalism. Palgrave.
*****¢ Petersmann, E-U. and M. Pollack (2003) Transatlantic Trade Disputes: The EU, the US, and the WTO. Oxford University Press.
*****¢ Södersten, B. and G. Reed (1994) International Economics, 3rd edition. Macmillan.
EMU:
*****¢ de Grauwe, P. (2005) Economics of Monetary Union, 6th edition. Oxford.
*****¢ Gros, D. and N. Thygesen (1998) European Monetary Integration, 2nd ed. Longman.
*****¢ Eijffinger, S. C. W. and J. de Haan (2000) European Monetary and Fiscal Policy. Oxford.
*****¢ Eichengreen, B. and J. A. Frieden (2001) The Political Economy of European Monetary Unification, 2nd ed. Westview.
8.3 Recommended Internet Resources
Journals
There are a wide range of economics journals that carry articles relating to aspects of EU trade, monetary union, competition policy, regional policy, etc. which you can find hardcopy and online versions of within the University library. A couple of journals that relate directly to specific aspects of the material covered in the module are:
*****¢ EC Competition Policy Newsletter (http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/publications/cpn/)
*****¢ Official Journal of the European Union (http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex/JOIndex.do?ihmlang=en)
Web Sites
This list can never be comprehensive ***** these are some of the main sites you may find useful. Be warned that there is so much information out there, you could spend your entire year surfing for material and never have the time to read any of it ***** so be selective. If you need guidance, just ask.
Institution: Link:
EU Homepage
http://europa.eu.int/index_en.htm (also, the *****˜What*****s New?***** link, tucked away at the bottom of the page, is worth checking regularly)
EU Commission activities are grouped by theme in Directorates-General. http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs_en.htm
Eurostat is the Official EU statistics Agency http://epp.eurostat.cec.eu.int
European Central Bank
http://www.ecb.int
Institution: Link:
EU Trade Policy Review (by the WTO) http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tpr_e/tp_rep_e.htm#eu2002
UN Economic Commission for Europe http://www.unece.org
UNCTAD World Investment Reports http://www.unctad.org/Templates/Startpage.asp?intItemID=2068&lang=1
Centre for European Reform http://www.cer.org.uk/
Centre for European Policy Studies http://www.ceps.be/index.php
European Integration Online Portal http://eiop.or.at/
EU Business http://www.eubusiness.com/
European Institute (London South Bank University) http://www.sbu.ac.uk/euroinst/
European University Institute, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies http://www.iue.it/RSCAS/
THANK YOU A LOT FOR YOUR HELP
*****
How to Reference "European Union Economy Issues and Policies" Essay in a Bibliography
“European Union Economy Issues and Policies.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2012, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/country-leave-eu/299122. Accessed 6 Jul 2024.
European Union Economy Issues and Policies (2012). Retrieved from https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/country-leave-eu/299122
A1-TermPaper.com. (2012). European Union Economy Issues and Policies. [online] Available at: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/country-leave-eu/299122 [Accessed 6 Jul, 2024].
”European Union Economy Issues and Policies” 2012. A1-TermPaper.com. https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/country-leave-eu/299122.
”European Union Economy Issues and Policies” A1-TermPaper.com, Last modified 2024. https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/country-leave-eu/299122.
[1] ”European Union Economy Issues and Policies”, A1-TermPaper.com, 2012. [Online]. Available: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/country-leave-eu/299122. [Accessed: 6-Jul-2024].
1. European Union Economy Issues and Policies [Internet]. A1-TermPaper.com. 2012 [cited 6 July 2024]. Available from: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/country-leave-eu/299122
1. European Union Economy Issues and Policies. A1-TermPaper.com. https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/country-leave-eu/299122. Published 2012. Accessed July 6, 2024.
Related Essays:
European Union Regional Policy Term Paper
European Union Regional Policy
The European Union -- EU although among the most affluent regions of the world, is marked by strange income inequalities at the internal level and opportunity… read more
Term Paper 8 pages (3061 words) Sources: 12 Style: Harvard Topic: Government / Politics
Explanation of the European Union Essay
European Union (EU) today is twenty-seven countries strong, with close to half a billion people living in those twenty-seven countries. According to the Web site Europa (http://europa.eu) the EU emphasizes… read more
Essay 4 pages (1295 words) Sources: 4 Topic: Government / Politics
NAFTA European Union Mercosur ASEAN Jacik Term Paper
European Union -- Making the skies not so friendly to fly for the American airline industry
Who could possibly dispute the benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, correct? However, according… read more
Term Paper 5 pages (1640 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Transportation / Mass Transit
Spain and the European Union Term Paper
Spain and the European Union
Why did Spain join the European Union? What was the criterion that Spain possessed that the European Union found sufficient enough for it to allow… read more
Term Paper 12 pages (4781 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Government / Politics
Organizational Review of European Union (Eu): Regional Thesis
Organizational Review of European Union (eu): Regional Organization Critical Analysis
Item Page Number
Organization Impact on Business and Trade
Recommendations for Organization's Future
ORGANIZATIONAL REVIEW of EUROPEAN UNION (EU): REGIONAL… read more
Thesis 5 pages (1306 words) Sources: 2 Topic: Management / Organizations
Sat, Jul 6, 2024
If you don't see the paper you need, we will write it for you!
Established in 1995
900,000 Orders Finished
100% Guaranteed Work
300 Words Per Page
Simple Ordering
100% Private & Secure
We can write a new, 100% unique paper!