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The European Union

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The European Union The formation of the European Union is an attempt to unify Europe in order to rebuild the European economy and prevent new conflict – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: The European Union


1
The European Union
  • The formation of the European Union is an attempt
    to unify Europe in order to rebuild the European
    economy and prevent new conflict

2
Steps Toward Unity 1951
  • 1951 France and West Germany signed a treaty that
    gave control of their coal and steel resources to
    a multinational group, the European Coal and
    Steel Community, the ECSC.
  • Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Netherlands also
    joined the ECSC.

3
Goals of the ECSC
  • The leaders of the six ECSC nations believed that
    this alliance would bring stability into the
    region.
  • Each nation would depend on each other for
    industrial resources.
  • Their economies would equally suffer if another
    war was fought.
  • The believed that no country could secretly
    prepare for war without the other nation knowing
    about it.

4
Cooperation Among Members
  • 1957- Formation of the European Economic
    Community EEC, also called the Common Market.
  • This alliance removed trader barriers, set common
    economic goals, and allowed people to live and
    work in any member country.

5
Growth of the EEC
  • By 1967, the membership in the EEC had
    quadrupled.
  • 1967- the EEC merged with the ECSC forming a new
    European economic alliance called the European
    Community, or EC.

6
New Members Sought
  • 1973- The European Community, EC began to admit
    other European nations.
  • 1993, as a result of a trade treaty, the European
    Union was formed to replace the EC.
  • Today there are 27 member nations

7
Progression of European Union
8
Purpose of the EU
  • One goal is to create a trade block that will
    strengthen the economy of all member nations.
  • To ease travel, work and trade between member
    nations.
  • To create a sense of European citizenship without
    reducing the sense of ones own nationality.

9
Economics and Politics
  • Membership in the EU has its share of challenges.
  • The member nations must be willing to give up
    some of their sovereignty and national identities
    to the union.
  • Some nations fear that membership will result in
    a loss of control of their own economies.

10
The Euro
  • One of the major goals of the EU is to create a
    common currency, the Euro, that every member
    nation will adopt as their form of money.
  • Many countries are not ready to give up their own
    currency for fear of losing their national
    identity.

11
The Single Currency
  • 1 Euro 1.29 as of 12-10-12

12
Political Challenges
  • The EU members have voiced their support or lack
    of support for candidates in many political
    election held within member states, thus
    influencing the outcome of elections.
  • Some believe that this kind of interference in
    the political arena will eventually tear the
    European Union apart and cause tension among
    members.

13
Expanding the EU
  • In time the European Union may have 28 member
    nations (500 million people). Administering this
    large of an alliance may prove to be very
    difficult.
  • Many of the nations waiting for membership were a
    part of the former Soviet Union.

14
Diversity Within the Union
  • Growth of the European Union may make day-to-day
    operations difficult and the great diversity may
    pose problems.

15
Prerequisites For Membership
  • Must be a European nation
  • Must be democratic
  • Must have a clean record on human rights issues
  • Must have free market economies
  • Must not be involved in any current conflicts
    within or outside of its borders

16
Member Nations
  • Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech
    Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,
    Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia,
    Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands,
    Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia,
    Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom

17
Member Candidates
  • There are five official candidate countries,
    Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of
    Macedonia, Montenegro, Iceland, and Turkey.
  • The western Balkan countries of Albania, Bosnia
    and Herzegovina, and Serbia are potential
    candidates.

18
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The End
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