“Evaluate the effectiveness of strategies designed to reduce disparity”The European UnionHildur Hreidarsdóttir & Vidushi Goyal

Background informationFounded in 1958 - Considered a ‘New Start’

6 founding countries: Luxembourg, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands

Population of over 508 million

The EU operates through a system of supranational institutions and intergovernmental-negotiated decisions:

European Parliament

European Council

Council of the European Union

European Commission

Court of Justice of the European Union

European Central Bank

Court of Auditors

Background Information (continued)1957: Italy, Luxembourg, Germany, France, The Netherlands and

Belgium

1973: Denmark, Ireland and the UK

1981: Greece

1986: Portugal and Spain

1995: Austria, Finland and Sweden

2004: Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia

2007: Bulgaria and Romania

2013: Croatia

EU Map and Member Countries Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Croatia

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Malta

Netherlands

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

United Kingdom

Video: the EU - Explained (first 3 minutes)

Positives (of EU enlargement)Unites Europe as a continent - ensuring peace, security and freedom

Provides financial aid to countries in need

Free trade of goods and movement of people in the EU - No internal trade barriers (schengen agreement 1995)

A single monetary union (the Eurozone)

From 1993 to 2003, 2.5 million new jobs and €877 billion of extra wealth were created by the EU

Poorer countries have become better off by receiving EU aid

Tackling important issues such as environmental issues is easier after enlargement

Negatives (of EU enlargement)Disagreements over the single currency - Eurozone

Conflict over fishing quotas

Expense of administration and the money wasted through corruption and incompetence

The uneven distribution of funds between member countries

Eastern EU farmers may find it difficult to compete with more efficient commercial farmers from the western EU

Countries such as Greece and Portugal are falling behind, causing EU members to bail them out, reducing the total economic output

Decision making is likely to be slower, less efficient

Efforts to decrease disparity - Human RightsOne of the EU’s main goals is to promote human rights both within the EU and internationally. The EU mainly focuses on:

Working to promote the rights of women, children, minorities and displaced persons

Opposing the death penalty, torture, human trafficking and discrimination

Defending civil, political, economic, social, cultural and universal human rights

Development and cooperationIn 2013, the EU spent €56.2 bn on development aid – aid from EU funds combined with aid from EU countries' national budgets.That amounts to 0.43% of EU gross national income. EU countries have committed themselves to reaching the target of 0.7% of GNI by 2015.EU development policy aims to give disadvantaged people in developing countries control over their own development by:

addressing the causes of vulnerability, e.g. poor access to food, clean water, education, health, employment, land tenure, social services, infrastructure and a healthy environment

eradicating disease and providing access to cheap medicines to fight epidemics like HIV/AIDS

reducing developing countries' debt burden, so they have more money for vital public investments

promoting self-help and poverty-eradication strategies

supporting the democratic process

improving respect for human rights, including equality between the sexes

encouraging a more stable economic environment in which businesses can grow and create jobs.

EducationEU countries are responsible for their own education and training systems, but the EU helps by setting joint goals and share good practices.The new Erasmus+, programme is designed to tackle youth unemployment by improving young people's skills and employability.Erasmus+ program: education, training youth & sport

Total budget – €14.7 bn (40% up on the previous funding period, which ended in 2013)

It will help over 4 million people, (mostly young) to study, train, gain work experience or volunteer abroad

It will also help over 125,000 organisations to work with counterparts abroad on innovating and modernising teaching and youth work practices.

HealthIt is up to national governments to organise health care and ensure that it is provided. The EU's role is to complement national policies by:

helping EU governments achieve shared objectives

generating economies of scale by pooling resources

helping EU countries tackle shared challenges - pandemics, chronic diseases or the impact of increased life expectancy on healthcare systems.

EU Aid volunteers initiative

TransportAs well as being a key sector of the economy, transport is a major contributor to the economy. EU policy

seeks to help our transport systems meet the major challenges facing them:

congestion affects both road and air traffic. It costs Europe around 1% of annual GDP – and freight and passenger transport alike are set to grow.

greenhouse gas emissions – by 2050, the EU must cut transport emissions by 60% compared with 1990 levels, if we are to limit global warming to an increase of just 2ºC.

infrastructure quality is uneven across the EU.competition – the EU’s transport sector faces growing competition from fast-developing transport

markets in other regions.As of January 2014, the EU has a new transport infrastructure policy that will connect the continent

from east to west, north to south. This policy aims to close the gaps between national transport networks, improve transport routes that still hamper the smooth functioning of the single market and overcome

technical barriers such as incompatible standards for rail traffic.

Total EU Spending

Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)The Common Agricultural Policy is the agricultural policy of the European Union

When the EEC treaty was signed in Rome in 1957, it brought together the 6 founding countries. In 1958, the 6 countries meet in Stresa, Italy to discuss the introduction to a joint agricultural policy.

It is one of the EU’s core aims and is one of the oldest policies of the European Community

CAP is a set of rules which regulate agricultural activities in the EU

Very influential as it affects ⅔ of used land area within the EU

It implements a system of agricultural subsidies and other programmes.

Each EU taxpayer contributes about 115 € to CAP every year.

It has been criticised on the grounds of its cost, and its environmental and humanitarian impacts.

Until the 1990s, the policy accounted for over 60% of the then European Community's annual budget, and still accounts for around 34%

How is CAP beneficial?Objectives of CAP:

To increase productivity, by promoting technical progress and ensuring the optimum use of the factors of production, in particular labour.

To ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural Community.

To stabilise markets.

To secure availability of supplies.

To provide consumers with food at reasonable prices.

Video: CAP

Criticism of CAP

West spends high amounts on agricultural subsidies every year, which amounts to unfair competition for other parts of the world.

Many developing countries are highly dependent on agriculture

Agriculture provides for the livelihood of 70% of the world's poorest people

CAP price intervention has been criticised for creating artificially high food prices throughout the EU. High import tariffs (estimated at 18–28%) have the effect of keeping prices high by restricting competition by non-EU producers

70% of the CAP payments tend to go to 25% of the largest and wealthiest farms, increasing disparity between farmers

CAP has allowed/pressured farmers to employ unecological ways of increasing production, such as the indiscriminate use of fertilisers and pesticides

Criticism (continued)An increasingly complex system of quotas and

support prices was set up, with further crops included as the European Community expanded. This basic system led to the infamous "butter mountains" and "wine lakes" of the 1980s, with farmers being paid to produce goods for which there was no market and which were then bought up for intervention storage and later sale at (lower) global market prices.

Bibliographyhttp://europa.eu/about-eu/basic-information/about/index_en.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union

http://cor.europa.eu/en/news/Pages/delivering-innovative-projects-on-the-ground.aspx

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Agricultural_Policy#Criticism

“The Changing Shape of the European Union” packet.

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/external/html/euenlargement/default_en.htm