Euro Argument Essay, Research Paper

Theoretically, the european union is a very good idea, that is the thought that a group of countries can:

?Trade freely with one another

?Establish policy towards non-member countries

?Coordinate member`s general econonic and agricultural policies

?Establish free movement of labour and capital throughout the member states.

The EC is governed by a council of ministers made up of 500 members, with each member state holding a proportional number of ministers by state population of the EC. The serving ministers have to be elected into office by proportional representation.

The European Court of Justice is a very imporant thins that has arisen from the EC. It allows an EC citizen who feels that he or she has been treated unfairly by the justice systen in their own state, may put forward their case to the Eeuropean Court of Justice. The 11 judges that make up the court would then decide whether or not to enforce a chane in state policy

The EC has been seen to be effective in the area of trade. In some cases trade income from member states has quadrupled when compared to previous trade.

The EC however does have its disadvantages, the amount of money paid into the EC by member countries is very different to the amount that these countries get out of it.

Another arguably bad thing to come out of the EC is the Euro. The euro is bad because:

?It offers less freedom for member governments concerning economic policies.

?Europe-wide taxes could be indroduced, this would lead to unfairness to members with a less strong economy.

?Labour markets would become less flexable, leading to a high unemployment.

These points hoever are countered by the fact that the Euro would boost trade between members and throughout the world due to the simpler currency, and that tourism between members would increase. The Euro would also reduce day-to-day fluctuations in the money markets.

Overall I think that the idea behind the EC is a very good one and that a united Europe would lead to an outstanding European economy, however this cannot happen unless all member countries input a proportional equal to other members. If a common currency is to be worked out the surely common systems for other things have to be worked out. For example education, opinions of graduates from member countries would not be considered as highly as someone with qualifications from the home country. I think a lot more thought needs to go into to fact that it is very hard to produce complete equailty between nations, no matter how close the two countries are.