European Union

Published on June 2016 | Categories: Documents | Downloads: 88 | Comments: 0 | Views: 693
of 9
Download PDF   Embed   Report

Comments

Content

Basic information on the European Union The European Union is a unique economic and political partnership between 27 European countries. It has delivered half a century of peace, stability, and prosperity, helped raise living standards, launched a single European currency, and is progressively building a single Europe-wide market in which people, goods, services, and capital move among Member States as freely as within one country. The EU was created in the aftermath of the second world war. The first steps were to foster economic cooperation: countries that trade with one another are economically interdependent and will thus avoid conflict. Since then, the union has developed into a huge single market with the euro as its common currency. What began as a purely economic union has evolved into an organisation spanning all areas, from development aid to environmental policy. The EU actively promotes human rights and democracy and has the most ambitious emission reduction targets for fighting climate change in the world. Thanks to the abolition of border controls between EU countries, it is now possible for people to travel freely within most of the EU. It has also become much easier to live and work in another EU country. "United in diversity" is the motto of the European Union. It signifies how Europeans have come together, in the form of the EU, to work for peace and prosperity, while at the same time being enriched by the continent's many different cultures, traditions and languages.

The European Union (EU) is the umbrella organization encompassing the European countries that have eliminated economic, trade, and immigration barriers between the member countries of the union. Originally started as the European Steel and Coal Community in 1951 to facilitate economic trade in Western Europe of those commodities, the EU has joined other political organizations and grown into a powerful political and economic entity. The EU provides regulations and laws for over 500 million people and is responsible for 30% of the world's GDP. The EU comprises 27 countries in Western and Eastern Europe, with the Eastern European countries of Romania and Bulgaria being the newest members in 2007. In Western Europe only the countries of Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein, and Switzerland are not part of the EU and even these countries have bilateral agreements with the EU that cover immigration and trade. In practical terms this means that these four countries also seem to be part of the EU to the average traveler. Politically, citizens of any member state are also deemed a citizen of the European Union. More importantly, almost all internal border restrictions have been eliminated. This means that any citizen of the European Union can freely travel and move personal goods between one country and another, just like you can freely travel between states in the US. Economically, the biggest visible result of the EU is in the acceptance and use of the euro as the sole currency in almost all member countries. Even in countries like the UK where the pound is still the dominant currency, euros can be used almost anywhere. But perhaps the biggest economic change is in the lack of restrictions for migrant workers between member states of the EU. Always a point of contention for some member states in the past, this has become a real issue since the EU started opening up membership to former Eastern Bloc countries. In particular, the 2004 inclusion of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and six other countries has resulted in a wave of East European workers flooding the labor force of West European countries for the higher wages that those countries pay. This has resulted in a glut of workers for some markets, particularly lower skill and manual labor jobs.

As a potential expat looking for work in Europe, the EU has some advantages and disadvantages. Because of the Schengen agreements with 29 of the European countries including the European Economic Agreement countries like Norway, you can also travel through much of the EU without dealing with customs and immigration between countries, just like EU citizens. The very notable exceptions are the UK and Ireland; both of these countries still have boarder control between themselves and the other EU member states. This open border policy makes it much, much easier to explore Europe while you are working there. There is also the convenience of a (mostly) single currency between all the member countries as well. The disadvantage to the EU is that the elimination of immigration barriers between the countries means that there are many more qualified Europeans that can apply for a job in any given country without requiring a visa. This means that your competition for any given job has increased significantly. What is even worse is that many of those workers are coming from poorer East European countries and are willing to work for much less money. Unfortunately, the EU, while extremely beneficial in terms of regulations for workers of member states, does not deal with foreign workers at all. As a result, you as a foreign worker will still have to deal with individual countries when trying to procure a work or student visa. So despite the fact that you can visit Europe as though it is just one big country, your best strategy is still to decide on a particular country for focusing your job searching efforts. As a North American looking for work in Europe, you can still have an edge in some job markets, particularly technology sectors where skilled workers are always in high demand. You also have a much better chance at employment in tourism sectors, particularly where companies are looking for expatriates to help tourists with local customs and tours.

What is the purpose of the European Union? The European union is a society in which people come together in order to keep peace and security within their nations. The Union

was officially founded in 1935 by 5 countries. Germany, France, Italy, Romania, and Sweden. OPTIONAL RULES Any of the following can be used either singly or in combination. Make sure everyone knows which rules are being used in a particular game. PSFs can be deployed simultaneously. The players write their deployments down and give them to the moderator who will record all of them at that time. Resolve conflict in the normal player-order. Repeat this each phase. Players may communicate with each other only through written messages. Normally, one player controls one faction. To simulate the problems some political parties have in making decisions, more than one player can be assigned to a faction where internal disunity is a significant factor. The instructor can require all players to record their negotiations with other players. They are collected at the end of the game and analyzed. Information from these documents can be interesting. An attacker loses one less PSF in an attack than the defender. For example, the attacker could destroy 4 defending PSFs, while losing only 3. Any of the following can be used either singly or in combination. Make sure everyone knows which rules are being used in a particular game. PSFs can be deployed simultaneously. The players write their deployments down and give them to the moderator who will record all of them at that time. Resolve conflict in the normal player-order. Repeat this each phase. Players may communicate with each other only through written messages. Normally, one player controls one faction. To simulate the problems some political parties have in making decisions, more than one player can be assigned to a faction where internal disunity is a significant factor. The instructor can require all players to record their negotiations with other players. They are collected at the end of the game and analyzed. Information from these documents can be interesting.

An attacker loses one less PSF in an attack than the defender. For example, the attacker could destroy 4 defending PSFs, while losing only 3. Any of the following can be used either singly or in combination. Make sure everyone knows which rules are being used in a particular game. PSFs can be deployed simultaneously. The players write their deployments down and give them to the moderator who will record all of them at that time. Resolve conflict in the normal player-order. Repeat this each phase. Players may communicate with each other only through written messages. Normally, one player controls one faction. To simulate the problems some political parties have in making decisions, more than one player can be assigned to a faction where internal disunity is a significant factor. The instructor can require all players to record their negotiations with other players. They are collected at the end of the game and analyzed. Information from these documents can be interesting. An attacker loses one less PSF in an attack than the defender. For example, the attacker could destroy 4 defending PSFs, while losing only 3. Any of the following can be used either singly or in combination. Make sure everyone knows which rules are being used in a particular game. PSFs can be deployed simultaneously. The players write their deployments down and give them to the moderator who will record all of them at that time. Resolve conflict in the normal player-order. Repeat this each phase. Players may communicate with each other only through written messages. Normally, one player controls one faction. To simulate the problems some political parties have in making decisions, more than one player can be assigned to a faction where internal disunity is a significant factor. The instructor can require all players to record their negotiations with other players. They are collected at the end of the game and analyzed. Information from these documents can be interesting.

An attacker loses one less PSF in an attack than the defender. For example, the attacker could destroy 4 defending PSFs, while losing only 3. Member countries  Austria
                    

Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania

    

Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden United Kingdom

Policy areas of the European Union Policy areas of the European Union

The EU is active in a wide range of policy areas, from human rights to transport and trade. Click on a policy title below for a summary of what the EU does in that area, and for useful links to relevant bodies, laws and documents. Agriculture Audiovisual and media Budget Climate action Competition Consumers Culture Customs Development and Cooperation

Economic and monetary affairs Education, training, youth Employment and social affairs Energy Enlargement Enterprise Environment External relations Fight against fraud Food safety Foreign and security policy Humanitarian aid Human rights Information technology Institutional affairs Internal market Justice, freedom and security Maritime affairs and fisheries Multilingualism Public health Regional policy Research and innovation Sport Taxation Trade

Transport

Sponsor Documents

Or use your account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Forgot your password?

Or register your new account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link to create a new password.

Back to log-in

Close