‘The European Union is a unique example of regional integration.’ Discuss. (45 Marks)
The European Union shares features with a range of other regional economic blocks. These
include the following:
• The EU like other regional economic blocs serves as a free trade area, giving member states access to a larger internal market.
• Like most regional economic blocs, the EU establishes common tariffs that enable it to protect member states from competitive pressures beyond their borders. However, in a number of respects the EU is unlike other forms of regional organisation. This applies in a variety of ways, including the following:
However, in a number of respects the EU is unlike other forms of regional organisation. This applies in a variety of ways, including the following:
• The EEC/EC/EU stemmed from unique historical circumstances, notably the overriding need to avoid a further European war by establishing peace between Germany and France.
• The EU is unlike other economic blocs in that it has developed a significant dimension of political union. This is evident in a variety of respects, including the supranational authority that resides in certain of its institutions, notably the Commission and European Court of Justice, the wider use of qualified majority voting and common citizenship rights that now extend across the EU. The EU is therefore no longer a confederation of independent states; it possesses unique federal-type features that are not found in other regional organisations and thus provides the only significant example of a political alternative to the nation-state.
• The EU is also unique in pursuing monetary union. This was designed to deepen the process of economic integration but it has also increased pressures for political union.
The EU also conforms to a social model that seeks to make guarantees to EU citizens on a range of issues, including employment rights, working hours and so forth.
The intellectual skills that are relevant to this question are as follows:
• The ability to analyse and explain the key features of the EU as a political body.
• The ability to evaluate the relationship between these features and those found in other forms of regional integration.
Synopticity in this question refers to the following:
• The ability to recognise that while some view the EU as a unique form of regional integration, others believe that the EU belongs to the wider category of ‘new regionalism’.
• The EU like other regional economic blocs serves as a free trade area, giving member states access to a larger internal market.
• Like most regional economic blocs, the EU establishes common tariffs that enable it to protect member states from competitive pressures beyond their borders. However, in a number of respects the EU is unlike other forms of regional organisation. This applies in a variety of ways, including the following:
However, in a number of respects the EU is unlike other forms of regional organisation. This applies in a variety of ways, including the following:
• The EEC/EC/EU stemmed from unique historical circumstances, notably the overriding need to avoid a further European war by establishing peace between Germany and France.
• The EU is unlike other economic blocs in that it has developed a significant dimension of political union. This is evident in a variety of respects, including the supranational authority that resides in certain of its institutions, notably the Commission and European Court of Justice, the wider use of qualified majority voting and common citizenship rights that now extend across the EU. The EU is therefore no longer a confederation of independent states; it possesses unique federal-type features that are not found in other regional organisations and thus provides the only significant example of a political alternative to the nation-state.
• The EU is also unique in pursuing monetary union. This was designed to deepen the process of economic integration but it has also increased pressures for political union.
The EU also conforms to a social model that seeks to make guarantees to EU citizens on a range of issues, including employment rights, working hours and so forth.
The intellectual skills that are relevant to this question are as follows:
• The ability to analyse and explain the key features of the EU as a political body.
• The ability to evaluate the relationship between these features and those found in other forms of regional integration.
Synopticity in this question refers to the following:
• The ability to recognise that while some view the EU as a unique form of regional integration, others believe that the EU belongs to the wider category of ‘new regionalism’.