Term Paper on "Spain and the European Union"

Term Paper 12 pages (4781 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

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 Spain's entry into the European Union? In order to answer these questions, an overview of the European Union and its functions and aims has to be studied at the outset. The European Union has recognized that trade is the one method by which the poorer countries of the world would be able to better themselves, and it does all it can to encourage trade and exports between the poor countries of the world. (Europa, the Gateway to the European Union)

The European Union also offers aid to poorer and developing countries all over the world, and helps them boost their economy and their productive capacity, fight poverty and other debilitating conditions so that they would also be able to join the global economy, and prosper as any other developed country elsewhere in the world would. Therefore, to encourage trade and economy in developing countries, the European Union, in the year 1971, created a 'generalized system of preferences', or what is also known as the GSP, wherein it has not only removed tariffs but has also removed quotas from the imports from those developing countries that it has trade relations with. The European Union has also removed tariffs on all exports for some 'least developed countries' numbering 49, all over the world, from the year 2001. Arms are, however, exempted under this policy. (Overview of the European Union Activities: Development)

It is a fact that the European Union enjoys a very good trading relationship with the 78 countries that come under the African-Caribbean Group, and if all rich countries of the world were to follow this particular model relationship, then it would be a definite boon to the developing countries. However, it has been noticed that, of late, the membership of the African-Caribbean Group in the European Union trade market has been on a steady decline, and this group has become marginalized in world trade as a direct result. This is the main reason why the European Union generally concentrates on providing financial aid and also technical assistance to the developing countries of the world so that they may be able to enjoy increased production capabilities and also strengthen their administrative capacities. Their innate physical as well as social infrastructure would undergo positive changes, and they would be able to reap more benefits from international trade opportunities and avail of more inward investments so that their economic base would be strengthened. (Overview of the European Union Activities: Development)

The European Union is, for this very reason, combining trade as well as aid to the developing countries in such a way that these countries would find it more useful, and this is the reason that it is at present negotiating with the ACP countries in the creation and development of a set of plans that should be in place by the year 2008. According to these plans, these countries should be able to think about integrating with their neighbors in preparation for global integration, and this would not only help them apply principles of good governance to their own country but would also help them in their creation of institutional capacities. As long as the European Union continues in its efforts to keep its markets open and remove any existing barriers to the exports from these countries, the ACP countries will grow and develop at a much faster rate than before.

It must be stated at this point that the European Union and its member countries together pay about a $30 Billion as public aid, mostly in the form of non-repayable grants to the developing countries all over the world, and about $6 billion is paid through the European Union. The Union however hopes to raise this amount to $39 billion by the end of the year 2006. The target of the European Union is to raise about 0.7% of their GNP every year on the aid for the developing countries, however, the fact is that it is only Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg that have reached this target; the rest are attempting to achieve it. Though most of the aid granted by the European Union is in the form of non-repayable grants, sometimes, soft loans and they grant investment capital through the European Investment Bank, or the EIB, the European Union's funding source over he past many years. (Overview of the European Union Activities: Development)

The European Union has, over the years, funded quite a few projects in developing countries. Sometimes, even if the money granted is only a small amount, the benefits of the aid are tremendous. For example, silk weavers in Cambodia were trained and granted equipment of a basic kind so that they could start their own small-scale industries and learn to be self-sufficient. Certain traders in Peru were helped to export more of their goods, farmers in Namibia were granted aid to start up their own businesses, and finances were provided to a business venture in Senegal so that the quality of the goods being produced could be improved, and technical aid and expertise were provided to farmers in Egypt whose potato crops were being threatened by a form of pest. These are some of the successes enjoyed by the European Union when it granted aid to developing countries and saw how the poor benefited out of the help rendered. (Overview of the European Union Activities: Development)

Spain is a Kingdom that is located in the Southwest of Europe, with the borders of France and Andorra. It is comprised of a few islands in the Mediterranean Sea, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, some small cities in the North of Africa, and some islands in the Strait of Gibraltar. Spain joined the European Union in the year 1986. Today, a state can be a member of the European Union only if it is able to fulfill the criterion as stated in the 'Copenhagen Criteria' because these criteria were officially established in the year 1993 after an European Union Convention held in Copenhagen. The member must demonstrate stability and a firm stature as regards democracy, human rights, and so on. (Spain) When it was accepted that Spain fit the entire criterion dictated in the rules for joining the European Union, it was decided that Spain would become a part of this great group of countries.

The Economic and Regional development of Spain based on: Grants and Funds: When the European Union is to fund a project; it will not be paid directly by the European Commission, but by the national as well as the regional authorities of the various member states. Most of the grants that are paid under the Common Agricultural Policy are paid in this manner, as are the payments made under the financial instruments of the structural policies, like for example, those that come under the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund, and so on. These form a bulk of the funding grants offered by the European Union. Sometimes, direct grants are offered to certain beneficiaries like some public or private bodies like Universities, NGOs, certain interest groups, etc. when funding is needed to carry out research in areas like education and training, environment protection, consumer protection and benefits, etc. (Structural Funds)

When some external policies of the European Union are to be implemented, then too grants are granted directly. Among the various 'structural funds' that were granted by the European Union, the 'Objective 1' was a very important one as far as Spain is concerned. This grant was labeled as 'Programs under Objectives 1 and 2 for the Programming Period 2000 to 2006'. Under the 'general objectives' of the plan, economic and social cohesion are considered to be the primary issues so that any sort of structural imbalances in the concerned regions could be corrected and changed. Under 'Objective 1', regions that were actually lagging behind were included, while under 'Objective 2', any areas that were at present undergoing either economic or social changes or both at the same time were included. The conversions could be due to either declining rural areas, or areas being restructured because of a growth of industries, or they could be urban areas finding it difficult to cope with the changes in their areas, or even areas that were undergoing a crisis because of the changes in habitat, like for example, in the area of fisheries. (Structural Funds)

The various actions that were recommended as solutions under the Objective 1 and the Objective 2 for these countries were as follows: financial aid would be granted to those investments that were dedicated to either creating or to maintaining jobs, or to both. Certain areas of investment like that of developing the infrastructure of any unit, like for example, that of transport, telecommunications, energy, the renovation and repair of certain… READ MORE

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