The European Union and Germany
The European Union (EU) is economy-dedicated organization of the European countries. Its aim is to promote a strengthening coordination between the member-countries. The main headquarters is located in Brussels, Belgium. There were 27 member-countries, as of 2007.
The dream of Europe to be a united one is one of the major factors in the creation of the European Union. Even in the 9th century, leaders are attempting to do this. The empire of Charlemagne covered the Western Europe, the French empire of Napoleon I grouped most of the European continent, Adolf Hitler nearly succeeded under Nazi domination, they all tried. But none of these efforts really succeed because they all relied in force rather than fostering cooperation among the European countries. Until then, all attempts were strongly opposed due to unwillingness to be under the control of other's policies. But the first major integration in Europe happened in the 1950s.
In 1950, the Foreign Minister of France Robert Schuman suggested integrating the coal and steel industries of the Western Europe. This gave birth to the Treaty of Paris which created the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951 with the six members, not including Greece. In 1957, the same six countries signed the Treaties of Rome that then created the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM). This started the “common market” between them as they removed the trade barriers. In 1967, EEC, ECSC and EURATOM merged to form a single set of institution which is the European Commission, European Council and the European Parliament wherein the members are selected by the national parliaments. In 1973, the European Community was joined by Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Furthermore, 1979 marked the first direct election of the European Parliament with the EU member state choosing the elected members. In 1981, Greece bonded with the EC while Portugal and Spain joined in 1986.
The treaty of the European Union received much opposition due to the EMU or the replacement of the national currencies to a single European currency. United Kingdom declined in the endorsement of some parts of the treaty and opted exemptions from them. The exemptions also include the participation in the Social Chapter which is the outlining of the social and employment policy wherein the common code worker rights are included. On the other hand, the Danish voters refused the treaty while the French favored it by a slim majority. In Germany, the opposition is due to the contented violation to the German constitution. In the emergency meeting called, the Denmark acquired concessions and exemptions. Danish voters now approved the treaty. Because of all these, it is just in November 1993 that it was formally inaugurated.
After all these events, the European Union has formally seen the light on November 1, 1993. It is the most recent in the spectrum of organizations in Europe that stemmed with the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) of 1951. Originally, its members were Belgium, France, West Germany (part of the United Germany today), Italy, Greece, Luxembourg and Netherlands. Later on, Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom joined in. In 1991, 12 member states agreed upon the Treaty on European Union, which is more commonly called as the Maastricht Treaty, which was then legalized by all the member countries.
The EC was transformed to EU by the Maastricht Treaty. Austria, Sweden and Finland joined the EU in 1995 while in May 2004, EU was comprised by 25 member countries when Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, Lithuania, Slovakia, Poland and Slovenia decided to join. In January 1, 2007, two more countries from the Eastern Europe join in, Romania and Bulgaria.
The European Union's principal goal is the promotion and the expansion of cooperation among the member states in the issues of foreign policy, trade and economics, security and defense and even social and judicial matters. Based on the treaty that they have signed, the citizens of the member countries are granted the European citizenship. The border controls became much relaxed and the agreements in the immigration and customs were changed in order to allow the European citizens the freedom to live, work and study in the other member states.
The other objective of the European Union is the proper implementation of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) which is the introduction of a single currency to all the EU members, which is the Euro. In January 2002, 12 EU members replaced their currency to euro, currently; fourteen members do not participate in the single currency principle. The countries that adopted the single currency are Sweden, Denmark, and United Kingdom, the nine countries out of ten that joined in 2004, and Bulgaria, Romania adopted the single currency. Slovenia also utilized euro starting from January 2007 which makes it the first of the members added in the year 2004 to meet all the essential economic requirements.
Germany in the European Union
The treaty of Maastricht paved the way for the Germany's membership in the European Union, it is also their key in stepping up to the other programs of the Union for its development. In 1992, the 543 out of the 562 majority of the German parliament had approved the treaty in December, the representative body of the Länder, voted unanimously for the ratification. The judicial position is not really clear. There were several negative oppositions in Germany joining the Union. One of the most speculative is the interpretation that in doing so, it will go against their constitution. Due to the previous experiences regarding unification, there were no national feelings among the Germans.
In the constitution of the Germans, it was indicated that they should preserve their national and political unity and be an equal partner in a united Europe thus serving peace in the world. The unification of the people in Germany suddenly became possible. The question on the importance of their freedom inn exchange of the membership in the European Union floated.
Then the parliament approved the Treaty of Maastricht, they also amended the constitution in order to fully ratify the legalization of their membership in the European Union and also to be able to utilize the European Monetary Union, the euro as the single currency. The said amendments of the Constitution further heightened the opposition from the four German European parliaments. They claimed that the amendments itself is unconstitutional. However, the Federal Constitutional Court dismissed the complaints.
Like the other member states, Germany has given up their freedom in order to get attached with the number of policy areas and decision-making at the European Union. One of the major decisions they have taken is changing their currency to euro, although there are several advantages in that aspect,
For the average citizen, it is possible to travel in Europe now without the nuisance of changing currencies—and Germans like to travel during their ample vacation time. For consumers it has become easier to buy abroad. For the German export industry, a common currency has meant that it can enjoy an export area covering the main part of Europe without any disturbing exchange rate changes. Transaction costs in the capital market have been reduced. Moreover, politicians like Kohl are convinced that the euro is an important symbol of the bringing together of Europeans from all the member countries. (Siebert)
The disadvantages, however, is that the setting of the interest rate, and steering the money
supply is under the hands of the governing council of the European Central Bank wherein a simple majority is necessary. The member states has only one vote each. The other concerns of the Germans were the importance that the other member states to price level stability have. Most of them do not have the same level of importance as that of the Germans. They believed that these countries would go for easy money policy and would have a softer stand regarding the price level statbility.
On the other hand, in the first half of the 2007, the presidency of the Council of the European Union is in the hands of the Germany. It is also the biggest population of all the EU countries while German is the most spoken first language in the European Union. The country got to be the third in the world's largest economy and is producing automobiles, engineering products, electronics and communication equipments, pharmaceuticals and chemicals and more. The companies have invested heavily in the east and central European countries that joined EU in 2004.
Moreover, the decision of Germany in joining the European Union is said to been opposed struggled and persevered, this is the kind of scenario that you can guarantee they have thought of the consequences of their actions. In this way, whatever complications that may arise, the country, specifically the government, is ready to face and solve it. The uncertainty of the situation is meddled by the advantages in the membership. Germany is for the united Europe, and that alone, is enough for the Germans to stand by their decision.
Economically speaking, Germany is not left behind in other countries. They have a well-preserved dignity and principles that enhanced their power in the European Union.
Works Cited:
Wieland, Joachim. “Germany in the European Union - The Maastricht Decision of the Bundesverfassungsgericht”. http://www.ejil.org/journal/Vol5/No2/art6.html
Siebert, Horst. “Germany in the European Union: Economic Policy under Ceded Sovereignty” July 2004. http://www.ifw-kiel.de/pub/kap/2004/kap1217.pdf
German Embassy Washington DC. “Germany in Europe”.
http://www.germany.info/relaunch/politics/eu/eu_latest_news.html
Microsoft Encarta 2007. “European Union” Microsoft Corporation.
