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.Issues relating to voting, members budgets, currency, anda common European Constitution darken the horizon today.Turkey,11 which was accepted as an associate member way back in 1963 and which Independent Slovenia: economics and foreign policy 17511 is clamoring ever more loudly for admission today, presents challengeswhich may be emblematic of future candidates: the obvious problem ofhuman rights, and the less often publicly discussed issue of the effectof ethnic (Arab, Turkish, Kurdish) and religious (Muslim) diversity onEuropean identity or even security.The reasons for the EU s existence and popularity today are manifold.Some of the original justifications, like containing post-Nazi Germany,hardly seem relevant today.But ensuring peace (through functional tiesand venues for conflict resolution) among Europe s powerful states and11 fostering economic and cultural cooperation remain vital.The economiccooperation itself still has as its essence the idea of a common internal market (no tariffs, free movement of labor and capital, common policies11 on subsidies) and a single currency (impact on social and budgetary poli-cies and on trade, since the EU has 19 percent of global foreign trade,compared with 18 percent for the US).In terms of foreign policy, a unitedEurope has far more prestige and power and can, perhaps, form a healthycounterweight to the US.And the EU also still resonates powerfully as aguarantor of civil rights and liberties.This involves supporting the exist-ence of the smaller or stateless peoples (national minorities) of Western111 Europe.And, in a more general way, it is linked to the fundamental polit-ical and religious freedoms of Central European and Balkan countries intransition.It is obvious that the EU now sees the admission process andthe idea of a common European home as both a reward and a tool forfurther change.Why would the giant organization in Brussels open its doors to tenmuch poorer states, with a variety of social and ethnic problems, in 2004?The motivations for the continued growth of the European Union arecomplex.Most importantly, it will take generations for enough scholarsto gain access to national and institutional archives for a complete picture111 to emerge.More autobiographies by statesmen and more polling and polit-ical analysis will help.But, doubtless, the set of goals pushing the Unionincludes the idea of security both in terms of pushing the Union s (andNATO s) borders into the vacuum of Eastern Europe before chaos,terrorism, or revived Russian imperialism appear there, and in terms ofhelping the region develop economically so that its poverty does not createan unrelenting flood of immigrants to the West.Optimists about economicgrowth might well have noted the investment potential of Eastern Europe sraw materials and land, still-ailing infrastructure, and markets hungry forconsumer goods.Finally, one should not forget that, in terms of ideology111 or even idealism, the EU has stressed that it is open to any Europeanstate that can meet its admissions criteria; East European states, lured bythe prosperity and peace they see in the West, have been unstinting intheir enthusiasm and even insistence on joining.No attempt to assess the significance of the EU can be successful without111 consideration of how it functions.It is a huge organization, with many of 176 Independent Slovenia: economics and foreign policy1 its most important functions centered on Brussels.But many other officesare delegated to other cities around the continent.Its concerns are notlimited to major issues of economics and diplomacy but range also to thestudy of social phenomena and the coordination of policies as varied asworker and consumer safety, the environment, trafficking in drugs andpeople, terrorism and other crime, and racism.Much of the quotidianwork of the EU is directed and carried out by the European Commissionin Brussels.This body contains the so-called Eurocrats and comitolo-gists of the administration and committee systems.Founded in 1958, it1 consists of Commissioners, their staffs, and a Directorates-General ofpermanent administrators.The Commissioners, appointed by the memberstates, are in charge of specific fields (for instance, foreign policy or the1 environment) and there are working groups on individual issues.Three other bodies within the EU are important for the establishmentand legitimization of the policies that the Commission carries out.TheCouncil of Ministers was founded in 1952.It consists of one high-rankingdelegate (at the ministerial level) from each member country.Its presi-dent, like so many chairs in the EU, rotates every six months.The Councilis a mid-level guidance group to forge operational plans.It does the11 nuts-and-bolts planning of the EU by putting specifics and muscle intothe broad policy decisions of another body known as the European Council [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Issues relating to voting, members budgets, currency, anda common European Constitution darken the horizon today.Turkey,11 which was accepted as an associate member way back in 1963 and which Independent Slovenia: economics and foreign policy 17511 is clamoring ever more loudly for admission today, presents challengeswhich may be emblematic of future candidates: the obvious problem ofhuman rights, and the less often publicly discussed issue of the effectof ethnic (Arab, Turkish, Kurdish) and religious (Muslim) diversity onEuropean identity or even security.The reasons for the EU s existence and popularity today are manifold.Some of the original justifications, like containing post-Nazi Germany,hardly seem relevant today.But ensuring peace (through functional tiesand venues for conflict resolution) among Europe s powerful states and11 fostering economic and cultural cooperation remain vital.The economiccooperation itself still has as its essence the idea of a common internal market (no tariffs, free movement of labor and capital, common policies11 on subsidies) and a single currency (impact on social and budgetary poli-cies and on trade, since the EU has 19 percent of global foreign trade,compared with 18 percent for the US).In terms of foreign policy, a unitedEurope has far more prestige and power and can, perhaps, form a healthycounterweight to the US.And the EU also still resonates powerfully as aguarantor of civil rights and liberties.This involves supporting the exist-ence of the smaller or stateless peoples (national minorities) of Western111 Europe.And, in a more general way, it is linked to the fundamental polit-ical and religious freedoms of Central European and Balkan countries intransition.It is obvious that the EU now sees the admission process andthe idea of a common European home as both a reward and a tool forfurther change.Why would the giant organization in Brussels open its doors to tenmuch poorer states, with a variety of social and ethnic problems, in 2004?The motivations for the continued growth of the European Union arecomplex.Most importantly, it will take generations for enough scholarsto gain access to national and institutional archives for a complete picture111 to emerge.More autobiographies by statesmen and more polling and polit-ical analysis will help.But, doubtless, the set of goals pushing the Unionincludes the idea of security both in terms of pushing the Union s (andNATO s) borders into the vacuum of Eastern Europe before chaos,terrorism, or revived Russian imperialism appear there, and in terms ofhelping the region develop economically so that its poverty does not createan unrelenting flood of immigrants to the West.Optimists about economicgrowth might well have noted the investment potential of Eastern Europe sraw materials and land, still-ailing infrastructure, and markets hungry forconsumer goods.Finally, one should not forget that, in terms of ideology111 or even idealism, the EU has stressed that it is open to any Europeanstate that can meet its admissions criteria; East European states, lured bythe prosperity and peace they see in the West, have been unstinting intheir enthusiasm and even insistence on joining.No attempt to assess the significance of the EU can be successful without111 consideration of how it functions.It is a huge organization, with many of 176 Independent Slovenia: economics and foreign policy1 its most important functions centered on Brussels.But many other officesare delegated to other cities around the continent.Its concerns are notlimited to major issues of economics and diplomacy but range also to thestudy of social phenomena and the coordination of policies as varied asworker and consumer safety, the environment, trafficking in drugs andpeople, terrorism and other crime, and racism.Much of the quotidianwork of the EU is directed and carried out by the European Commissionin Brussels.This body contains the so-called Eurocrats and comitolo-gists of the administration and committee systems.Founded in 1958, it1 consists of Commissioners, their staffs, and a Directorates-General ofpermanent administrators.The Commissioners, appointed by the memberstates, are in charge of specific fields (for instance, foreign policy or the1 environment) and there are working groups on individual issues.Three other bodies within the EU are important for the establishmentand legitimization of the policies that the Commission carries out.TheCouncil of Ministers was founded in 1952.It consists of one high-rankingdelegate (at the ministerial level) from each member country.Its presi-dent, like so many chairs in the EU, rotates every six months.The Councilis a mid-level guidance group to forge operational plans.It does the11 nuts-and-bolts planning of the EU by putting specifics and muscle intothe broad policy decisions of another body known as the European Council [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]