The European Union: The Creation Of The European Union

“After the Berlin Wall came down I visited that city and I will never forget it. The abandoned checkpoints. The sense of excitement about the future. The knowledge that a great continent was coming together. Healing those wounds of our history is the central story of the European Union.” This quote from David Cameron (current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) summarizes the excitement and potential of unifying Europe. The creation of the European Union (EU) has done just that. The European Union has made some 28 countries, small and large, slash their borders and come together in making a unified Europe. Although the idea of the European Union sounds appealing; has the EU been a success as an international organization? I believe that

As mentioned before, the EU is the first of its kind; therefore it is natural for there to be some issues. The first major issue of the EU is its legitimacy. The European Union “still lacks widespread support and legitimacy among the citizens of Europe”. (page 315) This could be caused by the “democratic deficit “that has formed in the EU. The European Union is often blamed for having its institutions and operations too remote and “inaccessible to ordinary citizens”(315). The voter turnouts at for the last European parliament elections on saw “43 percent of eligible voters casting a ballot”(315), the lowest ever. This movement has been labelled “Euro-scepticism”, which is described as an opposition to the process of Europe’s integration. According to the BBC, Eurosceptics in the EU’s parliament have more than “doubled their representation [as] about one-third of the 751 MEPs are Eurosceptic” (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28107633). One major reason for this “Eurosceptic” movement is the economic issues that presented themselves during the 2009 and the 2011 recession. Europe, like the United States, was hit especially hard by this crisis and many flaws in the EU’s economical system were brought forth. The major issue resided with the common currency of the Euro. Countries with weak economies could not print more money to “devalue their currency to pay their debts and make their exports more competitive”. As the German economy was still “functioning reasonably well, the value of the Euro did not drop sufficiently to give a boost to the weaker economies in southern Europe”(314). This caused countries like Greece and Spain to be bailed out by the European Central Bank, but in return were forced to impose strict austerity measures which led to “soaring unemployment rates reaching over 25%” (314) . Riots