European Union The Second Founding

The author is presenting a broadly structured study about the first fifty years of European integration, its geopolitical context and academic reflection. His study is based on the two-fold thesis that since a few years, the European Union is going through a process of its Second Founding while simultaneously changing its rationale.

Essay from the year 2006 in the subject Economics - International Economic Relations, grade: 1,8, Edinburgh Napier University (Napier University Business School), course: International Trade Finance, 18 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: 1. Introduction The following report shows the financial impact the EU, and the EMS had on growth and development from a macroeconomic and microeconomic point of view. The report is divided into three main parts. The first part gives an overview of the development and emphasises the key elements of European integration. The second part is a closer look at the impact and influence of the Euro and the third part refers to the development of the European trade growth. 2. The long way towards European integration.1 2 3 Focus is in this part is on the European Union. Paris, Rome, Haque, Maastricht, Amsterdam, Madrid and Nizza. The names of European cities that became famous as milestones of European development is long. Although the integration process recently faced a setback in the ratification of the European constitution, the supranational-project "European Union" is a success story. Most obvious through the fact that so many countries were and still are keen to join the Union and become a Member State. The EU enlargement on May 2004 were ten Eastern European countries joined the EU is a very good example. However, the enlargement from the so called EU 15 to EU 25 implies also the turn away from the old idea of the "United Nations of Europe". The idea first mentioned by Winston Churchill after the second World War in 1946 was in mind of many pro-european political characters from French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman to former German Chancelor Helmut Kohl.

The Uniting of Europe provides an accessible introduction to the history of European integration and places European unification within a wider political and economic context The book shows how institutional developments have been conditioned by wider international considerations. The Uniting of Europe considers: * the impact of the Cold War and the superpowers on Europe * Britain's decision to join the Community * the consequences of German reunification * the problem of nationalism in Eastern Europe * key personalities, parties, regimes and political systems. This Second edition brings the history of the European Union up to date to include the Amsterdam and Nice treaties, as well as other contemporary issues such as the impact of events in Yugoslavia, the changing relationship with the US and British membership of the single currency.

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject History Europe - Other Countries - European Postwar Period, grade: 65/100, University of Southampton, language: English, abstract: The Second World War was an utterly brutal episode in the history of Europe which would leave its marks for the next half century that followed. It had altered the ethnic structure of Europe through population movements and mass murder, transforming pre-war Europe into a completely different continent. In 1945 the European countries were weakened and divided by two super-powers, the USA on the Western side, and the USSR in the East. In the following decades Europe will slowly regain confidence: the experienced defeat of war brought many countries to place their hope in a unified Europe in which civil wars like the previous two would become impossible. The wish to pacify the continent gained in strength and this was the backdrop for the idea of forming a European Community. This paper will demonstrate through chronological phases how the integration process of the EU took place, while focusing on the various driving forces/actors that spurred the community's growth, without forgetting to look at the different concerns that darkened the bright horizon of the Union. From 1945 to 1959: Common strife towards pacifism and beginnings of cooperation With the common aim of ending the frequent and bloody wars that have shattered most european countries and which were at its highest during the Second World War (1939-1945), the European Union seemed like a bright and promising project, even if European leaders were facing heavy challenges: since the Yalta summit in 1945, Europe was divided between the United States and the USSR, both retaining control over the Western and the Eastern part of the continent respectively. This brought about several conditions and changes for the European countries: they were bound to be dominated by the US economically as well as militarily, the loss of their status as a 'Great Power' was very painful especially for Britain and France who also gradually lost most of their colonies. In spite of a certain number of draw-backs, the US tutelage also had its good points. In the year 1947 for instance, the Marshall Plan was set up by the US in order to help Europe recover after the war. This strategy was also meant to encourage cooperation between the recipient nation, and that was very important so as to bond the two bitter enemies, France and Germany, and avoid another outbreak of violence in the future (Warleigh, 2004).

This book recreates the first decade of the history of the EU: why and how the ECSC, EEC and the EURATOM treaties were proposed and negotiated, as well as the fiasco of the EDC. This history is set in the context of an analysis of the thinking of the EU's «Founding Fathers» (Monnet, Schuman, Adenauer, de Gasperi & Spaak).

The Ever-Changing Union provides a concise overview of the EU's history, its institutional structures, and European decisionmaking processes. The book provides all the information needed to acquire an understanding of the complex institutional system that the EU has evolved into and that has been changing ever since its creation. This second edition focuses on the key innovations introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon, especially on how it affects the EU's external operations. The book is designed for those with an initial or an occasional interest in European policies and politics. It is written in a style geared for senior policymakers from outside the EU as well as for civil servants, diplomats, business executives, NGO representatives, and students and scholars who deal with the European Union regularly in their work.

By studying the negotiations which led to the conclusion of the original Treaty of Rome and the creation of the European Economic Community, this informative book, based on recently released archival sources, analyses the Franco-German bargain which shaped the Community's initial framework and policies. This is not just another book about Franco-German relations and the founding of the European Union. It presents a new theoretical framework which relates the founding of the European Community to its later development. An attempt to apply the ideational framework of the original Community to later developments, such as the single market and the Treaty on European Union, finds that the Union is still shaped by many of the ideas of the founding fathers. Birthmarks of Europe will be useful to teachers and students of the history and politics of the European Union, as well as to those studying the dynamics of the development of other regional integration networks.