European Union PPT

The European Union

Overview

The European Union or simply "EU" is a political and economic union of member states located in Europe. It is characterized by a common currency, the euro, adopted by mostly of the members, that garantee the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital within the internal market. The EU aims to promote economic and political integration among its members, fostering cooperation while respecting the sovereignty of each state.

ITS HISTORY

1945-2024

The idea of a union in europe was born right after WW2 in 1945, the goal was to rebuild Europe and prevent future conflicts by cooperating, so in 1950 a french minister named Schuman proposed the creation of the ECSC ("european coal and steel community"). In 1957 at the treaty of Rome the ECSC evolves into a the European Economic Community (ECC) and in 1986 thanks to the "Single European Act" the various states start aiming to remove barriers between themselves. Finally in the Maastricht Treaty of the 1992 the EUROPEAN UNION is officially enstablished and it introduces the EURO currency and further plans for future expansion. After the 2008 economical crisis, the Eurozone start to face real Challenges, and massive economics aids were sent to the interested countries From 2004 to these days the EU kept Expanding and still plans to do so, apart from the 2016 British referendum, the only time a country left the European Union.

THE MEMBERS

When did they Join?

1981

Founding Fathers (1958)

Forth Enlargment (1995)

Greece overthrown its military government and become democratic

Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

2007

Austria, Finland and Sweden joins

Romania and Bulgaria Joins

First Enlargment (1973)

Iberic Expanion (1986)

2004

2013

Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia

Croatia joins

Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom

Spain and Portugal Joins

INSTITUTIONS

Court of justice of the european union

European economic and social committee

Represents civil society, employers, and employees. It provides opinions on proposed legislation and policy areas.

Made by the Court of Justice, The General Court and Specialized Court, it interpretate and applicate EU's laws.

The European Union has several institution that play distinct roles in its governance.

European Court of auditors

European External action service

European parliment

Support the EU's foreign and security. it assist the high representative for foreign affairs.

Audits the EU's finances to ensure tansparency and accountabilty.

The only directly elected institution, it represent the EU's citizens, the members are elected every five years and it has legislative, budgetary ad supervisory powers.

European central bank

committe of the regions

Responsible for monetary policy in the Eurozone and it completely indipindent.

Represent regional and local authorities and it provides opinions on regional and local aspect of EU policies.

European Ombudsan

European Commission

European council

Council of ministers

Investigate complaint about maladministration in EU's institutions and bodies.

Represent member state governments. it address different policy areas and it shares its power with the parliment.

Act as the executive branch, implementic deisions and ensuring that the EU's policies are carried out. it has one member per state.

It comprehend the heads of the various government and it sets the direction and the properties of the EU, it meets at least four times a year.

EUROPEAN POLICIES

What are the policies?

Enviroment Policy : Focuses on promoting sustainabilty by addressing environmental challenges as common goals to combat climate change Transport Policy : Works to create an efficient and sustainable tansportation system across the EU Energy Policy : Tries to ensure a secure, sustainable and competitive energy supply for the various members by focusing on energy efficiency and renewabilty, with the hope of creating an internal indipendent energy market. like we were seeing during the Russo-Ukrainian crisis

The European Union has developed various common policies to promote cooperation and integration among its meber states. Here some of them Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) : Support Agricolture and rural development Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) : Tries to regulate sustainable fishing and conservation of the resources Commond Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) : Seek to coordinate the forein policies of EU members on specific issues Single Market : It create a harmonized and barrier free economic zone Schengen Area : Enable passport free traveling across member states Regional Policy : Addresses disparities by providing financial support

Actual Challenges

However it's not always easy to manage an organization this big, in fact there were, and there still are crisis and problems like: The Brexit fallout when the EU had to negotiate with the United Kingdom or the big economic disparities like the massive unemployment rate. The Pandemic of Covid-19 that hit the whole world causing another economic crisis right during the aftermath of the previous economic crisis of 2008. Even inside of the EU members state with growth of a Nationalist and Populist sentiment as we can better see in eastern nations. And last but not least the Ukrainian war, a conflict at the doors of europe that is unstabilizing the whole world's foreign policies; All of this while fighting the biggest treath for the humanity, the climate change. Still, the European Union has made plans and goals to achieve in order to try control all of this chaos, we cannot see a really bright future for the world right nowbbut surely we dont miss hope.

Thank for the attention!

Polverini Emanuele 4BT