eu and globalization 2007

8/14/2019 EU and Globalization 2007

1/33

The European Union:

A Potential Model andAlternative Vision of

Globalization?

I. Brief Historical Sketch of EU

II. Overview of EU Structure and

Functions

III. The EU as an Alternative Dream and

Model of Globalization

EU Anthem


2/33

Key Dates in EU History

1951: Six nations form European Coaland Steel Community

1957: Rome Treaties establish European

Economic Community


3/33

1962: Common Agricultural Policy

agreed to by the six EEC nations

1973: Denmark, Ireland and UK join EEC

1979: First direct elections to EuropeanParliament

1981: Greece becomes 10th member

1985: Schengen Agreement eliminates

border controls among five nations


4/33

A Border Crossing


5/33

1985: Program to launch common

market in 1992 is begun

1986: Spain and Portugal increase

membership to twelve

1990: German Unification


6/33

1991: Maastricht Treaty establishes EU,

expands its competencies, and commits

EU to the Euro

1993: Single market comes into effect

1995: Austria, Finland and Sweden join,bringing membership to fifteen

1998-99: Accession negotiations begin

with twelve Eastern European states;Turkey recognized as an applicant


7/33

2002: Euroreplaces local

currencies in

twelve EU states(UK, Denmark and

Sweden stay

outside)


8/33

The EU is the worlds largest single

economy, larger than the U.S. economy.

It has 490 million people compared to 300

million for the U.S.


9/33

Ten new countries

joined the EU on May 1,

2004, and two more in

2007, raising the total

to 27 countries


10/33

Budapestand

Prague


11/33

The EU has made war unthinkable

among countries which warredagainst each other for centuries.

Sure, the E.U. matters, said Thomas Leicht, a

doctor from MunichYou can see the terrible

history of Europe in this city (Berlin). The E.U. is

the reason it will never happen again.

New York Times article on the EUs 50th anniversary (Mar. 25, 2007)


12/33

Major Institutions of the EU

Council of Ministers, BrusselsMinisters of the member states


13/33


European Commission, Brusselsin between a Secretariat and an Executive

20 commissioners and 16,000 officials


14/33


European Parliament, Strasbourg

732 elected members


15/33


European Parliament, Strasbourg

direct elections since 1979


16/33

Strasbourg


17/33


European Court of Justice,

Luxembourg


18/33

Widely Differing Interpretations

of the EU Exist

Some leftists: EU as mechanism that neoliberalpolicies are being imposed on European societies.

Little difference seen between the US and the EU

at least in the future

Some citizens: Brussels as faceless bureaucrats

extending their control deeper and deeper. They

worry about national and local sovereignty.

Many academics: tend to see EU as a response

to globalization rather than an alternative model of

it


19/33

My Own View: EU is the closest thing wehave to a real-life model of how alternative

globalization might work and what it might

look like


20/33

A gradual process of deepening andenlargement

Not just a common market--broad range

of political and social policies are both a

condition for joining and a central part of

the EU

A different model of capitalism

A new system of citizenship and shared

sovereignty

The EU as Alternative Globalization


21/33

Deepening and Enlargement

First common policy:agriculture (still

accounts for about 1/2

EU budget)

Other early common

policies dealt with equal

pay for men and women

and other basic rights Growing competencies

of EU in wide variety of

areas


22/33

Deepening and Enlargement

Enlargementcontinues, but it

involves a difficult

process of negotiation

The poorer and predominantly

agricultural countries of Eastern Europe

Turkey, an Islamic country with 70

million people (listen to NPR segment)

N t J t C M k t


23/33

Not Just a Common Market...

democracy

human rights, including equal rights for men andwomen and the right to form unions and bargain

collectively

no death penalty

health, safety and environmental standards

common foreign and military policy in some areas

participation in a common aid program

commitment to reducing inequality

cohesion policy and structural funds to reduce

inequality both between and within nations

Revenue contributions


24/33

A Different Model of Capitalism

Ex-French Prime

Minister Lionel Jospin:

Yes to the market

economy, no to the

market society.

Despite differences between French dirigiste

capitalism and the Rhineland capitalism of

Germany and other variations, a common labelof social market capitalism.

A capitalism regulated by the state and

shaped by the participation of civil society

A N S t f Citi hi


25/33

A New System of Citizenship

and Sovereignty

Citizens of member states are citizens of boththeir nation and of the EU

They can travel and settle anywhere in the EU

They live in a zone of mixed sovereignties--

according to one estimate, 50% of their domestic

legislation and 80% of their economic legislation

is written in Brussels Europeans may be the first to be living in a

post-national world


26/33

A Different Model of Capitalism

Considerably lessinequality than in US

Labor unions and parties

much stronger

Government regulatory

role much greater than in

US

Public goods and green policies much more abundant

Currently relatively high unemployment, but strong

safety netlittle poverty in the 15 Western European

states, more in new Eastern European states


27/33

U.S.-style neoliberal

capitalism has made

inroads in Europe,

but despite support

from some elites, it

remains widelyresisted.

The Bush administration has workedhard to divide the EU between old and

new Europe


28/33

Jean Monnet:

European integrationis not an end in

itself but a stage on

the road to theorganized world of

tomorrow.

The Community may serve as anexample of how to create a more

prosperous and peaceful world.

a model for global governance?


29/33

Over a million Frenchmen

protest new labor law

April 2006

The EU has its problems...

integration of its immigrant population

extremely low fertility rates/depopulation

controversy over a European Constitution

how to retain a social market economy in a

neoliberal era of globalization

whether to admit Turkey to the club

a divided United Kin dom: US vs EU


30/33

The European Dream...is the first

transnational dream to emerge in a

global era....European identities and

loyalties now reach below andbeyond nation-state borders to

encompass a richer and more

deeply layered sense of

embeddedness in the world. (p. 23)


31/33

The European dream emphasizes

community relationships over

individual autonomy, cultural diversityover assimilation, quality of life over

the accumulation of wealth,

sustainable development over

unlimited material growth, deep playover unrelenting toil, universal human

rights and the rights of nature over

property rights, and global

cooperation over the unilateral

exercise of power. (p. 3)


32/33


33/33

Summary: The Significance of the

European Union for Globalization

1) The EU appears to demonstrate that

significant regional variations in

culture, politics and society are

compatible with globalization

2) The EU may provide a model of howan alternative form of globalization

could proceed

eu and globalization 2007

Documents