I. Critically Flawed?
The European Union (EU) is a crucial player on the World political stage and exceptionally influential. The European Union currently represents 27 countries, but the question is, as the EU turns 50 years old, has it moved Europe forward, in a positive way? And is it beneficial to current and future EU citizens? From here, the simple answers to those questions are that the EU has and is still fulfilling its original mandate and aspirations; however, it is completely incapable of reaching its current goals. One could almost go as far as saying that the EU, as an institution today, is incompetent and a permanent lame duck – ouch that hurts!
This author, an American citizen, living in Europe, strongly believes that while the European Union concept is good and beneficial to member countries and citizens, the implementation is, as stated in the title, critically flawed!
To begin analyzing this, one can start by looking at what the EU is, where it came from, and where it is allegedly going.
II. The EU – Coming and Going
As previously mentioned, the EU is currently made up of 27 Countries, but the concept of the European Union, or a Common Community is not new. As far back as the 1800’s, philosophers and politicians maneuvered to form a unity among the countries of Europe. Those dreams were dramatically halted because of World Wars I and II. After World War II, however, the perceived need for a Common European Community was even greater and the movements toward forming such a group was renewed with fervor – reasoning was that it was needed to protect Europe against further internal strifes and external aggressions such as the ones that brought on two World Wars in the first place, both poignantly started in Europe. According to the EU’s own website, peace, stability, safety, and security were paramount reasons for establishing a common community, later known as the European Union.
Today, that reasoning has expanded to a far less lofty goal, but one that has, for better or worse, changed the world political and economic landscape. That goal being to provide more representation and offer more influence to each country. The thinking goes that each individual country would have a difficult time representing itself on the world stage alone and that most EU countries, being small, would globally pushed aside. The EU, however, offers each country that chance to be properly represented by joining forces and working together as one big group, rather than 27 small pieces. According to the EU’s own lessons on the European Union:
The European Union was created to achieve the political goal of peace, but its dynamism and success spring from its involvement in economics.
EU countries account for an ever smaller percentage of the world’s population. They must therefore continue pulling together if they are to ensure economic growth and be able to compete on the world stage with other major economies. No individual EU country is strong enough to go it alone in world trade. The European single market provides companies with a vital platform for competing effectively on world markets.
So, the EU was set up to encourage and support peace on the continent, and today part of its mantra is to increase European Countries’ influence in the world by joining together. The EU has been, and continues to be successful in this endevour! You might ask: where then is this critical failing spoken of?
III. What is Wrong With the EU, Exactly?
The failing comes not from the EU’s goals and aspirations, but rather from its implementation and institutional structure. The EU has 27 member countries, with a few more knocking on its door for admission. That is more than 30 languages, 100+ cultures, and traditions. That is not a failing in itself, but rather a monumental challenge. The EU feels that it is living up to that challenge. Specifically they say:
But these efforts [to increase standards of living] have not been made at the expense of compromising the separate cultural or linguistic characteristics of EU countries. On the contrary — many EU activities help to create new economic growth based on regional specialities and the rich diversity of traditions and cultures.
On the ground, Cultures and peoples with large populations in the EU would agree with that statement, others that are small, would severely disagree! The EU’s severe failings come in two distinct areas: One, insufficient and unequal representation of each segment of the EU Citizenry. Two, no direct representation of the Citizenry as a whole. The consequences of this is that large countries and cultures exert unbalanced influence, but no one person, interest, culture, or people is actually represented in the European Union. This is the critical flaw of which causes the EU to be far less than the dreamers of the 1880’s imagined to be. Far less effective, productive, and far less meaningful!
IV. The EU’s Structure – THIS is the EU’s Big Problem!
The EU is governed by a number of different bodies. There is a body that is directly elected by the people. This is where the EU gets its claim that there is direct representation, but that body wields practically no influence in the EU nor on its policies and direction. Lets break it down into what each body is and who is there and what the body does.
The European Council:
What the Body Is: The primary decision making body in the EU Governmental structure.
Who: These are heads of states or ministers from each EU Country. The President of the Council is the EU President and this post rotates every 6 months between members.
What the Body Does: Discusses and “agrees” on policy and legislation.
The European Parliament
What the Body is: The Legislative Branch of the European Union Government
Who: Democratically elected Parliament members. Currently over 700 member strong and each elected for a five year term.
What the Body Does: The European Parliament’s own website sums it up perfectly, “the Parliament organises its work, through a system of specialised committees”. Additionally, the Parliament scrutinises the activities of other EU institutions, passes the annual EU budget, and shapes and decides new legislation jointly with the Council of Ministers.
The European Commission
What the Body is: If the Parliament is the Legislative Branch, the Commission is the Executive Branch. Additionally, it is a quasi Administrative Branch.
Who: There is one Commissioner from each member state and are nominated by each National Government. Commissioners serve for five years. There is support staff in Brussels totaling over 20,000 people – all employed by the EU.
What the Body Does: These non-elected Officials, draft proposals for legislation and policy for consideration by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.
The European Court of Justice
What the Body is: The Judicial Branch.
Who: There are 25 judges and eight advocates-general, who are appointed by member states.
What the Body Does: Adjudicates on all legal issues and disputes involving Community law. Specifically, they give a preliminary ruling on each case before a final judgment. The Court deals with two main types of actions: those referred to it by national courts for rulings of interpretation of Community law; and those started by one of the other institutions.
V. Summary -
Each governing body of the EU is mindful of its purpose, but restricted by those very same purposes. The EU, this wonderful governmental body that accomplishes much good, is restricted by its own procedures and organization. The Parliament, the solely elected body has no real power, but essentially is the EU’s purse strings with no ability to make laws, only rubber stamp decisions made by the European Commission, which is not elected by the EU citizenry. Additionally, the parliament organizes its work by committees! How horrible and ineffective can they be?!
Coming back to the questions we started with:
Has the EU moved Europe forward, in a positive way?
Yes, it has moved Europe forward in a positive way, but not as much as could be possible. The European Union is conceptually a splendid institution and was an essential move in the post World War world. It has brought countries together and has successfully helped to promote peace throughout Europe. However, the EU, as it has evolved is now bureaucratic behemoth that is extremely slow and inefficient.
Is the EU beneficial to current and future EU citizens?
The EU is unable to become more effective without providing the citizens of the European Union the rights of direct representation. It provides increased representation in the world to each member country, but not to each citizen in the EU itself. A strange, paradoxical reality. This one fact, has sadly has put the power of the European Union in the hands of professional diplomats, mainly from large member countries, rather than in the hands of the people – a critical failing!
