The European Union Resource Page - Europan Union

The European Union (EU) is a supranational and intergovernmental union of 27 democratic member states of Europe and their respective overseas departments (esp. France, Spain, Portugal and United Kingdom). The European Union was established under that name in 1992 by the Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht Treaty). Many aspects of the Union existed before 1992 through a series of predecessor relationships, dating back to 1951.^[11]

The European Union is the largest political and economic entity on the European peninsula, with around 500 million people and an estimated GDP of 13.4 trillion US$. The Union has a single market consisting of a customs union, a single currency called the euro - adopted by 13 member states so far and managed by the European Central Bank, a Common Agricultural Policy, a common trade policy,^[12] and a Common Fisheries Policy.^[13] The Schengen Agreement abolished passport control for some member states, and customs checks have been abolished at many of the EU's internal borders, creating, to some extent, a single area of free movement for EU citizens to live, travel, work and invest.^[14] A Common Foreign and Security Policy was established as the second of the three pillars of the European Union.

The EU's activities cover most areas of public policy, from economic policy to foreign affairs, defence, agriculture and trade. The extent of its powers differs greatly among areas: in some, the EU resembles a federation, e.g. on monetary affairs, agricultural, trade and environmental policy, economic and social policy, in others a confederation, e.g. on home affairs, and in others an international organisation, e.g. in foreign affairs.

The most important of EU institutions include the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, the European Court of Justice, the European Council, the European Central Bank and the European Parliament - the Parliament's members are elected by EU citizens every five years.

Status

The members of the European Union have transferred considerable sovereignty to it, more than that of any other non-sovereign regional organisation. In certain areas the EU begins to take on the character of a federation or confederation. However, in legal terms, member states remain the masters of the Treaties, which means the Union does not have the power to transfer additional powers from states onto itself without their agreement through further international treaties. In many areas, member states have given up little national sovereignty, particularly foreign relations and defence. Because of this unique structure most simply classify the European Union as a sui generis entity.

On 29 October 2004, EU member state heads of government and state signed the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. This was later ratified by 13 member states. However, in most cases ratification was based on parliamentary action, rather than popular vote, and the process faltered on 29 May 2005 when French voters rejected the constitution 55% to 45%. The French rejection was followed three days later by a Dutch one, in which 62% of voters refused the constitution as well.^[15] In Spain the referendum result was 77% in favour of the constitution though there was high abstention: so only 32% of those eligible to vote were in favour.[5].

The current and future status of the European Union continues to be subject of political controversy, with widely differing views both within and between member states. For example, in the United Kingdom one poll suggested that around 50% of the population are indifferent to the EU and 20% voted for parties that wanted to withdraw from the EU in the 2004 EU elections.^[16] Public opinion in Denmark and Austria is similarly Eurosceptical. However, other countries are more in favour of European integration — soon after the Netherlands and France voted "no" on the constitution, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg voted "yes". The concept of European integration is itself the subject of much debate.

Current issues

Issues currently facing the EU cover its membership, structure, procedures and policies. They include the status and future of the constitutional treaty; enlargement to the south and east; problems of financial probity and democratic accountability; relative economic viability; revision of the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact; and the future budget and the Common Agricultural Policy.

At the December 2005 European Council, which is a semi-annual meeting of the heads of state and government of the EU member states, a decision was taken on how it should allocate the EU budget for the next seven years (2007–2013). Also, the "Financial Perspective" was defined as EU members agreed to fix the common budget to 1.045% of the European GDP.^[17] UK Prime Minister Tony Blair agreed to review the British rebate, negotiated by Margaret Thatcher in 1984, despite a promise to the contrary made to the UK Parliament^{citation needed]}. French President Jacques Chirac declared this increase in the budget will permit Europe to "finance common policies" such as the Common Agricultural Policy or the Research and Technological Development Policy. However, France's demand to lower the VAT in catering was refused.^[18]

Issues controversial during budget debates include the British rebate, France's benefits from the Common Agricultural Policy, Germany and the Netherlands' large contributions to the EU budget, reform of the European Regional Development Funds, and the question of whether the European Parliament should continue to meet once a month in Strasbourg.

These debates represent a difference of approach between governments such as France and Germany, who call for a broader budget and a more federal union, and governments such as that of the UK, who demanded a slimmer budget with more funding transferred to science and research (and whose watchword is modernisation).

The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE), commonly referred to as the European Constitution, is an international treaty intended to create a constitution for the European Union. The failure of the constitution to win popular support in some member states (especially France and the Netherlands, where referenda were held^[19]) caused other countries to postpone or halt their ratification procedures, and the Constitution now has an uncertain future.^[20]^[21] Had it been ratified, the treaty would have entered into force on 1 November 2006. However, as of December 2006, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain had ratified the constitutional treaty.^[22] The two countries which joined the European Union on 1 January 2007, Bulgaria and Romania, have already accepted the constitutional treaty too, ratifying their accession treaty.

Origins and history

Attempts have been made to construct a prehistory of Europe which supports claims of the existence of a European national identity. The Mediterranean-centred Roman Empire is perhaps not a good analogue for the European Union for a number of reasons. These two political institutions did not share the same geographical area: the Roman Empire included parts of Africa and Asia, and excluded much of Germany, all of Ireland, Scandinavia, Scotland and Central and North-east Europe. The Roman Empire spread by the use of force, was controlled by a central state and shared few of the ideals or structures of the EU. The Frankish empire of Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire united large areas under a loose administration for hundreds of years. The 1800s customs union under Napoleon is perhaps a better comparison.

Given Europe's collections of languages, cultures and ethnic groups, these attempts usually involved military subjugation of unwilling nations, leading to instability; others have lasted hundreds of years and promulgated large spells of peace and economical and technological progress as in the Roman Empire's Pax Romana. One of the first proposals for peaceful unification through co-operation and equality of membership was made by the pacifist Victor Hugo in 1851. Following the catastrophes of the First World War and the Second World War, the impetus for the founding of (what was later to become) the European Union greatly increased, driven by the determination to rebuild Europe and to eliminate the possibility of another World War. This sentiment eventually led to the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community by (West) Germany, France, Italy and the Benelux countries. This was accomplished by the Treaty of Paris, signed in April, 1951, and taking effect in July, 1952.^[23]

The first full customs union was originally known as the European Economic Community (informally called the Common Market in the UK), established by the Treaty of Rome in 1957 and implemented on 1 January 1958. This later changed to the European Community which is now the "first pillar" of the European Union created by the Maastricht treaty. The EU has evolved from a trade body into an economic and governmental partnership. As president of the Convention on the Future of Europe, the former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing proposed to change the name of the European Union to United Europe, though this proposal was rejected.

Member states and enlargement

Current member states and dates of entry

The European Union's 27 member states cover an area of 4,336,790 square kilometres (1,674,444 sq mi) and have approximately 490 million inhabitants as of January 2007.^[24] The European Union's member states if combined would represent the world's largest economy by GDP, the seventh largest territory in the world by area and the third largest by population. The EU describes itself as "a family of democratic European countries".^[11] The member states of the European Union have land borders with 21 other nations.

On 23 July 1952, six founding members formed the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which was transformed into the European Community, later renamed to European Union, in waves of accession as follows:

Future enlargement and close relationships

Turkey

Turkey is an official candidate to join the European Union. Turkish European ambitions date back to 1963 Ankara Agreements. Turkey started preliminary negotiations on 3 October 2005. However, analysts believe 2015 is the earliest date the country can join the union because of the large number of economic and social reforms it has to complete, and because the 2007-2013 budget takes no account of the considerable costs Turkey's accession will involve.^[25] Another issue is Turkey's geographic setting, as only 3% of its territory lies on Europe. However, the Copenhagen criteria do not impose strict geographic conditions. There are also worries about Pope Benedict XVI's view about the "European Identity", as in a cultural, continent-based Christianity, historically opposed by the Ottoman Empire, especially since he was designated as Pope.^[26]However, he expressed greater support for Turkey's admission following his late-November visit to the country in 2006. Lately, there have been reports on growing differences between the EU and the Turkish government,^[27] including a discontent on the side of the Turkish because they feel as though they are capitulating to the demands of the EU while receiving nothing for their efforts. The latest controversy has to do with the Cyprus situation, as the Turkish feel that is a matter of the Greek-Cypriots, who opposed the Annan plan for settlement of the Cyprus dispute and still demand from the Turkish the opening of ports and airports.^[28] On the other hand, as an EU member state, the Republic of Cyprus reserves her right to veto Turkish accession procedures contingent on Cyprus dispute.

Turkey's refusal to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1919 and jailing of sympathizers outlines human rights issues, is also detrimental to their bid. Most recently, Nobel literature prize winner Orhan Pamuk was detained after he expressed regrets that Turkey has not admitted fault for the Armenian Genocide.

Other Balkan states

Croatia is an official candidate country to join and started accession negotiations in October 2005. In June 2006, the EU officials projected that the accession of Croatia would likely happen in 2010. The closure of negotiations for all chapters of the acquis communautaire is expected in 2008 or 2009, while signing the Accession treaty would happen in the year after.

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has been given official candidate status as of December 2005.^[30]

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia are officially recognised as potential candidates.

European Free Trade Association

The EFTA states of Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are members of the European Economic Area which allows them to participate in most aspects of the EU single market without acceding to the EU. Switzerland, the fourth EFTA state, rejected EEA membership in a referendum; however, it has established close ties to the EU by means of various bilateral treaties.

Other nations

To varying degrees, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan have also expressed membership aspirations, though none have submitted formal applications and none are expected to in the short term.

Morocco officially applied to join the EU in 1987 but was rejected on the grounds that it was not in Europe.

Context (rationale for enlargement and future prospects)

Supporters of the European Union argue that the growth of the EU is a force for peace and democracy. They point out that the wars which were a periodic feature of the history of Western Europe have ceased since the formation of the European Economic Community (which later became the EU) in the 1950s.

Others contend that peace in Europe since World War II is the product of other causes, such as the moderating influence of the U.S. and NATO, the need for a unified response to the threat from the Soviet Union, the need for reconstruction after World War II, and a collective temporary tiring of waging war, and that the dictatorships cited came to an end for entirely different reasons.

In more recent times, the European Union has been extending its influence to the east. It has accepted several new members that were previously behind the Iron Curtain, and has plans to accept several more in the medium-term. It is hoped that in a similar fashion to the entry of Spain, Portugal and Greece in the 1980s, membership for these states will help cement economic and political stability.

As the EU continues to extend eastward, the candidate countries' accessions tend to grow more controversial. Furthermore, the rejection of the EU Constitution by France and the Netherlands, together with the EU's slow economic growth, have cast doubt on whether the EU will be ready to accept new, far poorer members after 2007. The prospect of large-scale economic migration from Romania and Bulgaria into the major EU economies such as Germany, the UK, France and Italy has also reared its head. These countries have only just begun to manage the major influx from the 2004 accedant member states such as Poland and the Czech Republic (especially in the UK and Germany). It is feared by these economies that they will be unable to cope with additional economic migrants which are projected to number in the hundreds of thousands from 2007 to 2010 alone. Both Romania and Bulgaria also fear that they will suffer a national 'brain drain' of their skilled and specialist workforce, similar to that which the 2004 member state entrants are experiencing now and are already suffering of a lack of unspecialised workforce, especially in the constructions field.

Demographics

The European Union is a densely populated, culturally diverse union of 27 member states. Over the next two decades the total population size of the EU is expected to remain around 500 million although new countries may boost the size of the union. Any growth is expected to come from net migration and new countries joining, since total deaths in the EU will almost certainly outnumber total births from around 2010. The effect of net migration is expected to no longer outweigh the higher death rate after 2025, when the population, not withstanding new joiners, is expected to decline gradually.^[31]

Economy

If considered a single entity, the European Union has the second largest economy in the world after NAFTA, with a GDP of 13,400,000 million USD (2005) using Purchasing power parity (PPP). The EU economy has grown at around 2% per annum so far this century. In 2006, it is estimated 3.5 million jobs were created in the Eurozone. Germany, the largest economy in the EU, grew about 2% in 2006 and is expected to grow at around 2.5% in 2007. The EU's rate of growth is expected to increase - growth for 2007 is expected to be at 2.7% - especially as new member states are poorer than the EU average, and have the capacity to grow at a higher rate.

EU member states have agreed a programme called the Lisbon Strategy which aims at making "the EU the world's most dynamic and competitive economy" by 2010.^[32]

Economic variation

Below is a table showing, respectively, the GDP (PPP), the GDP (PPP) per capita and the GDP (nominal) per capita for the European Union and for each of its 27 member states, sorted by GDP (PPP) per capita. This can be used as a rough gauge to the relative standards of living among member states, with Luxembourg and Ireland the highest; Romania and Bulgaria the lowest. The official candidates and officially recognised potential candidates are also included in the table. The data set is for the year 2007. All 2007 data are projections.

Source: CIA World Factbook [6]
All other figures, source: IMF web site (2007 GDP PPP, 2007 per capita GDP PPP, 2007 per capita GDP, current prices).

Institutions and legal framework

EU institutions and bodies

General description

The European Council (regular summit with 28 members), which is a regular meeting of the 27 head of member states and the European Commission president is sometimes also listed as an institution, although since it lacks its own staff, budget and the legal powers held by the above 5 institutions, it is better described as a "quasi-institution".

There are also a great number of more specialised agencies of the European Union, usually set up by secondary legislation, which exist to implement particular policies. Examples are the EUROPOL (the European Police Office), the European Environment Agency, the European Aviation Safety Agency or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market, the Political and Security Committee, established in the context of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, monitoring and advising on international issues of global security.

Location of EU institutions

As soon as the European Economic Community (EEC) was established, political and legal wrangling began over where the European institutions should be located. The Member States were unable to reach agreement on where the permanent seats should be, particularly since the concept of a European district, proposed by Jean Monnet, won little support. From 1958, the Commissions of the EEC and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom) had their seats in Brussels.

Until such time as the member states reached agreement on a single permanent seat for the Community institutions, European officials were distributed between Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg, leading, in particular, to a considerable increase in overheads. Brussels was chosen as the seat of the Single Commission and the Council of Ministers. In practical terms, this meant that most European officials were employed there.

Luxembourg sought compensation for the loss of the High Authority and the Special Council of Ministers of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), both of which were relocated to Brussels. However, Luxembourg became the seat for the new European Investment Bank (EIB) and was given the assurance that certain meetings of the Council of Ministers would be held there, in April, June and September.

The Court of Justice, the Central Statistical Office, the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, the Advisory Committee and the financial services of the ECSC and the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly also remained in Luxembourg.

Meanwhile, France refused to renounce its claim for Strasbourg as seat of the Parliamentary Assembly. An expensive and inconvenient compromise was reached whereby Parliament’s Members met in plenary session in Strasbourg but meetings of parliamentary committees were held in Brussels. Certain plenary meetings were also held in Luxembourg, which was also the seat of the Secretariat of the European Parliament.

The EU has no official capital and its institutions are divided between several cities:

Legal framework

Treaties

European Union law comprises a large number of overlapping legal and institutional structures. This is a result of its being defined by successive international treaties, with each new treaty amending and supplementing earlier ones. In recent years, considerable efforts have been made to consolidate and simplify the treaties, culminating with the final draft of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. If this proposed treaty is adopted, it will replace the set of overlapping treaties that form the current constitution of the EU with a single text.

The earliest European Communities treaty was the Treaty of Paris of 1951 (took effect in 1952) which established the European Coal and Steel Community between an original group of six European countries. This treaty has since expired, its functions taken up by subsequent treaties. On the other hand, the Treaty of Rome of 1957 is still in effect, though much amended since then, most notably by the Maastricht treaty of 1992, which first established the European Union under that name. The most recent amendments to the Treaty of Rome were agreed as part of the Treaty of Accession of 10 new member states, which entered into force on 1 May 2004.

The EU member states agreed to the text of a new constitutional treaty that, if ratified by the member states, would have become the first official constitution of the EU, replacing all previous treaties with a single document. Although accepted by many countries, this document was rejected in a French referendum with a 55% majority on 29 May 2005 and in the Dutch referendum with a 62% majority on 1 June 2005.^[15]

If the Constitutional Treaty fails to be ratified by all member states, then it might be necessary to reopen negotiations on it. Most politicians and officials agree that the current pre-Constitution structures are inefficient in the medium term for a union of 25 (and growing) member states. Senior politicians in some member states (notably France) have suggested that if only a few countries fail to ratify the Treaty, then the rest of the Union should proceed without them, possibly creating an "Avant Garde" or Inner Union of more committed member states to proceed with "an ever-deeper, ever-wider union".^[35]

The role of the European Community within the Union

European Communities: European Community plus Euratom

The term European Communities refers collectively to two entities — the European Economic Community (now called the European Community) and the European Atomic Energy Community (also known as Euratom) — each founded pursuant to a separate treaty in the 1950s. A third entity, the European Coal and Steel Community, was also part of the European Communities, but ceased to exist in 2002 upon the expiration of its founding treaty. Since 1967, the European Communities have shared common institutions, specifically the Council, the European Parliament, the Commission and the Court of Justice. In 1992, the European Economic Community, which of the three original communities had the broadest scope, was renamed the "European Community" by the Treaty of Maastricht.

European Union: European Communities plus CFSP and PJCC

The European Communities are one of the three pillars of the European Union, being both the most important pillar and the only one to operate primarily through supranational institutions. The other two "pillars" — Common Foreign and Security Policy, and Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters – are looser intergovernmental groupings. Confusingly, these latter two concepts are increasingly administered by the Community (as they are built up from mere concepts to actual practice).

Effect of Constitutional Treaty

If it had been ratified, the proposed new Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe would have abolished the three-pillar structure and, with it, the distinction between the European Union and the European Community, bringing all the Community's activities under the auspices of the European Union and transferring the Community's legal personality to the Union. There is, however, one qualification: it appears that Euratom would remain a distinct entity governed by a separate treaty (because of the strong controversy the issue of nuclear energy causes, and Euratom's relative unimportance, it was considered expedient to leave Euratom alone in the process of EU constitutional reform).

Intergovernmentalism and supranationalism

A basic tension exists within the European Union between intergovernmentalism and supranationalism. Intergovernmentalism is a method of decision making in international organisations where power is possessed by the member states and decisions are made by unanimity. Independent appointees of the governments or elected representatives have solely advisory or implementational functions. Intergovernmentalism is used by most international organisations today.

An alternative method of decision making in international organisations is supranationalism. In supranationalism power is held by independent appointed officials or by representatives elected by the legislatures or people of the member states. Member state governments still have power, but they must share this power with other actors. Furthermore, decisions are made by majority votes, hence it is possible for a member state to be forced by the other member states to implement a decision against its will.

Some forces in European Union politics favour the intergovernmental approach, while others favour the supranational path. Supporters of supranationalism argue that it allows integration to proceed at a faster pace than would otherwise be possible. Where decisions must be made by governments acting unanimously, decisions can take years to make, if they are ever made. Supporters of intergovernmentalism argue that supra-nationalism is a threat to national sovereignty, and to democracy, claiming that only national governments can possess the necessary democratic legitimacy. Intergovernmentalism is being favoured by more eurosceptic nations such as the United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden; while more integrationist nations such as the Benelux countries, France, Germany, and Italy have tended to prefer the supranational approach.^[36]

The European Union attempts to strike a balance between the two approaches. This balance however is complex, resulting in the often labyrinthine complexity of its decision-making procedures, eg, the codecision-making process.

Starting in March 2002, a Convention on the Future of Europe again looked at this balance, among other things, and proposed changes. These changes were discussed at an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in May 2004 and led to the Constitutional Treaty discussed above.

Supranationalism is closely related to the intergovernmentalism vs. neofunctionalism debate. This is a debate concerning why the process of integration has taken place at all. Intergovernmentalists argue that the process of EU integration is a result of tough bargaining between states. Neofunctionalists, on the other hand, argue that the supranational institutions themselves have been the underlying driving-force behind integration.

Main policies

General situation

As the changing name of the European Union (from European Economic Community to European Community to European Union) suggests, it has evolved over time from a primarily economic union to an increasingly political one. This trend is highlighted by the increasing number of policy areas that fall within EU competence: political power has tended to shift upwards from the member states to the EU.

Some member states have a domestic tradition of strong regional government. This has led to an increased focus on regional policy and the European regions. A Committee of the Regions was established as part of the Treaty of Maastricht.

The tension between EU and national (or subnational) competence is an enduring one in the development of the European Union.

All prospective members must enact legislation in order to bring them into line with the common European Union legal framework, known as the Acquis Communautaire. (See also European Free Trade Association (EFTA), European Economic Area (EEA) and Single European Sky.) See table of states participating in some of the initiatives.

Single market

Many of the policies of the EU relate to the development and maintenance of an effective single market. Significant efforts have been made to create harmonised standards designed to bring economic benefits through creating larger, more efficient markets.

Internal policies

External policies and military

Co-operation and harmonisation in other areas

Criticisms

Common Agricultural Policy

The Common Agricultural Policy, better known as the CAP, is a system of subsidies paid to EU farmers. Its main purposes are to guarantee minimum levels of production, so that Europeans have enough food to eat, and to ensure a fair standard of living for those dependent on agriculture.

The policy has been accused of distorting trade in agricultural products for decades. While the EU guarantees its farmers a price that is several times the world market price, Third World producers struggle in vain to compete in an unfair market. These subsidies, paid for by the EU taxpayers, secures the standard of living for farmers in EU countries, but also endangers Third World jobs, potentially causing increased poverty and malnutrition.^[38]^[39]

The policy costs around £30bn a year - or half the EU's £60bn annual budget. Common attempts to put the finances into some sort of perspective include examples along the lines of it adding £9 onto a family of four's weekly food bill, or that the annual income of an EU dairy cow exceeds that of half the world's human population. Another problem is that the subsidies cause overproduction. The CAP has also been blamed for encouraging environmentally damaging intensive farming. Critics say that the CAP has become badly unbalanced, with 70% of its funds going to only 20% of Europe's farms - predominantly the largest - and leaves nearly three-quarters of EU farmers surviving on less than £5,000 a year. Small farmers account for about 40% of EU farms, but receive only 8% of available subsidies from Brussels. For example, according to British government figures, five UK farms receive more than £1m a year in subsidies.

Since 2003 fundamental reforms have been implemented, sector by sector, with a view to "de-linking" agricultural support from market-distorting price support. Instead of being paid to produce (and thereby providing an incentive for surpluses which must be disposed of on the world market), farmers will receive payments for services such as conservation and rural development. Although the total financial level of support is not declining, the change in the type of subsidy is substantially reducing negative impacts on non-EU agricultural producers.

France led the anti-reform camp, which includes Spain, the Republic of Ireland and possibly Germany, while Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands were demanding change.

Democratic deficit

Many critics of the EU claim that its structures are undemocratic because most of the power rests with the (unelected) council of ministers rather than the EU parliament which has very limited powers to block decisions made by either the council of ministers or the EU commission. Proceedings in the EU parliament get very little media coverage in most member states with the result that the general public have little understanding of EU issues and do not feel that they are part of the decision-making process.

Biodiversity

The European Union has interpreted differently (relative to other advanced nations) the mission of creating a Biodiversity Action Plan under the 1992 Rio Accord. Instead of creating detailed inventories of biota and corresponding threat analyses and action plans for species, the EU has embedded references to protection of biological resources in a set of economic development policies[7] related to fishing, agriculture etc. While this same strategy has been taken by a number of developing countries, the EU has not met the standard set by some advanced nations such as Canada[8] and Australia [9][10][11] in terms of extensive species identification, analysis of pathways of species decline and development of highly specific recovery plans. In contrast a number of individual countries within the EU (such as Sweden and the United Kingdom[12]) have produced documentation in the spirit of the Rio Accord in a level of detail consistent with other advanced countries.

Dealing with language barriers

The EU has 23 official languages and three official alphabets (Latin, Greek and Cyrillic) for 27 member states - although there are only three internal working languages in the European Commission: English, French and German. There are 253 potential two-language combinations between the twenty-three languages creating problems in terms of the amount and diversity of translation needed.

The European Parliament employs over 4,000 interpreters at an annual cost in excess of 1 billion euro. Documents can take up to a week to be translated into the languages of all member states. Sometimes translation needs to be done across intermediate languages because of a lack of interpreters for particular languages;^[40] this can often lead to a loss of information and clarity, or even introduce errors into translation.^[41]

It has been suggested, most notably by former UK commissioner of the EU Neil Kinnock, that much of these costs could be eliminated by making English the official working language of the EU.^[42] (see ELFE)

There is a strong argument that legislation, especially proposed legislation, be available to the public in their own language. The EU produces substantial legislation applicable to all member states: debate and accountability would be severely hampered if people could not have access to documents in their own language.

Comparison with other regional blocs

CIA World Factbook

On 16 December 2004, The World Factbook, a publication of the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) added an entry for the European Union. [13] According to the CIA, the European Union was added because the EU "continues to accrue more nation-like characteristics for itself". Their reasoning was explained in this small statement in the introduction:

European Union

- Euopean Union

Contents