The European Union

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Introduction

In the course of fifty years, the European Union has expanded from six countries united under economic treaties to a large collective of twenty-five sovereign nations. Maintaining the union within such a large group has grown more difficult as numerous treaties have been drafted to control the governance of the European Union. To reduce the number of treaties in the union, the convention decided to draft a Constitution, which now moves through the process of ratification in each of the sovereign nations. The Constitution works to set up a basis for the expansion of the Union and the requirements that need to be met when a country seeks entry into the Union. But with the greater controls the EU seeks to place on the legal arena, many countries question whether their individual sovereignty will survive in the system. The evolving legal system will be shaped by the Constitution, but the influence of the document could reach much farther than what it allows for in the text. In this paper, I intend to explore how the Constitution will affect the culture within the European Union through the legal changes imposed on nations and the further expansion of the Union.

History of the European Union

In 1950, after the economic depression caused by the first and second world wars, Europe sought a way to ensure lasting peace among the nations. The French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman, following the ideas of other world leaders, proposed to integrate the European coal and steel industries in the hopes that political and economic unity would ensure peace among the involved nations. This brought forth the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, constructed between Belgium, West Germany, Luxembourg, France, Ital...

... middle of paper ...

...e than the United States of America.

Works Cited

A Constitution for Europe. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2004.

Craig, Paul and Gràinne de Bùrca. EU Law: Text, Cases, and Materials. Pg 9, 11. New York: Oxford University Press. 2003.

d’Estree, Claude. Personal Interview. 9 March 2005.

“E pluribus unum?”. The Economist. 25 September 2004.

“EU Czech Klaus Reaction”. CTK National News Wire. Brussels. 4 March 2005. General News.

“The History of the European Union”. 2005. Europa. 7 February 2005 <http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/index_en.htm>.

Wolf, Martin. “No way to create a more dynamic and flexible Europe”. The Financial Times: London England. Pg 17. 7 April 2004.

Smith, Don. “RE: EU”. Email to Katie Mulligan. 9 March 2005.

Smith, Don. Personal Interview. 2 March 2005.

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