Европейский Союз (European Union)
МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ
УХТИНСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ТЕХНИЧСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ
Кафедра «Информационные системы в бизнесе»
Курсовая работа по дисциплине
«Микроэкономика»
на тему: The
European Union.
Работу выполнил
студент группы ЭТК(IMS)-04
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Замкова В.О.
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Работу проверил
Старший
преподаватель
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Берловская Е.В.
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Ухта, 2005.
Содержание
1.1
An Outline of the EU's Developmen. 3
1.2 The EU's Decision-making Process. 3
1.3 The Budget and Finance. 7
1.4 The Common Agricultural Policy. 10
1.5 The Common Fisheries Policy. 10
1.6 Regional Policies. 12
1.7 Social Policy. 14
1.8 Environmental Policy. 15
1.9 Transport Policy. 18
1.10 R&D Policy. 19
1.1 An Outline of the EU's Development
The modern
origins of the EU stem from the events and aftermath of the two world wars,
particularly the second, and from the bitter effects of the interwar recession
and the 'beggar my neighbour' policies adopted by most countries.
1951 six countries, Belgium, The
Netherlands, Luxembourg (Benelux), France, Italy and West Germany, signed the
European Coal and Steel Community Treaty and formed the ECSC which still exists
and whose treaty has to be redrawn by 2002.
1957 the same six signed the
Treaties of Rome to create (1) The European Economic Community (EEC) and (2)
Euratom. The treaties came into operation in January 1958. Since then the
European Community and its derivative The European Union have consisted of the
three bodies, 1. ECSC, 2. EEC (called the European Community since 1987) and 3.
Euratom.
1972 Denmark, Ireland and the
United Kingdom acceded with effect from 1 January 1973 (The Nine').
1979 Greece acceded with effect
from January 1981 (The Ten').
1985 Portugal and Spain
acceded with effect from January 1986 (The
Twelve').
1990 the newly unified Germany
was incorporated as a single state into theCommunity on 3 October.
1994 Austria, Finland and Sweden
acceded with effect from 1 January 1995 (The Fifteen').Other important
landmarks are:
1986 The Single European Act
(SEA) was signed in February and came into force in July 1987. It established
the Single European Market from 1 January 1993.
1991 The European Economic Area (EEA) was
formed by an agreement
signed in October. It joined the EC to EFTA (minus Switzerland) and came into force on 1
January 1994. Liechtenstein
joined late in 1995.
1991 The Maastricht Treaty on European
Union was agreed in December and signed in February 1992. After ratification delays it came
into force 1 November 1993.
1996 An Intergovernmental
Conference proposed reforms to the Maastricht Treaty. It led to the Treaty of
Amsterdam, June 1997.
The European
Union has five main institutions: the Commission, the Council, the European
Parliament, the European Court of Justice, and the
European Court of
Auditors. Figure 19.1 shows a simplified outline of decision making and
institutional relationships in the EU.The relationships in the diagram have
evolved over time and will change again as the Maastricht Treaty is revised and
as new members join. At the moment, decisions are made by the Council, sometimes
in conjunction with the European Parliament. The word Council covers several
formats for meetings. It can be the heads of government and/or state meeting
twice (or more) a year in what is called The European Council'. Or it can be
the ministers for a particular subject such as agriculture or transport,
meeting as The Council of Ministers' or it can be 'Council working groups' who
are officials from the member states. The term also includes the Committee of
Permanent Representatives (COREPER) whose members are senior diplomats and
civil servants. They meet weekly and aim to smooth the passage of decisions so
that only the final or most contentious issues are decided by their political
masters.
Some decisions require the
Council and the Commission to consult the Economic and Social Committee or the
Committee of the Regions which have an advisory role.
Generally
speaking the European Parliament's role is also advisory because it is not a
law-making body in the way that other parliaments are, but there are two
procedures called the co-operation procedure and the codecision procedure that
give the European Parliament more say and authority.
In practice, the
Commission, which is the executive or civil service of the Union, is the most
important of the institutions if only because of the continuity of its
existence and the sheer quality of its permanent staff. It currently has 20
Commissioners, two from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom
and one from each of the other states. It has about 15 000 staff and is divided
into Directorates General (DG). The Commissioners, who are now appointed for
five years, are obliged to be completely independent of their national
government. The Commission is the main source of initiatives in the EU and the
role of President of the Commission is extremely important, as Jacques Delors
showed during his period of office to 1994. He was responsible for the Single
European Act and for the Treaty on European Union and for the initiatives on
European Monetary Union which will lead to a single currency (probably).
When decisions
are made they are formulated in different ways. Put simply they are:
- regulations which are directly
applied and no national measures are
needed to implement them;
- directives which bind member
states on the objectives to be achieved but
leave it to the individual government to achieve them through modifying
their own laws;
- decisions which are binding, in
all their aspects, on those they are
addressed to, whether individuals, firms or member states;
- recommendations and opinions which are not binding.
Member states vary
significantly in the speed and effectiveness with which they implement
directives and this difference is a major cause of dissension between members. The process of making
European Union laws is long drawn out and full of opportunities for
consultation, representation and protest, so there is no real excuse for
national governments to talk as if they are being overridden by 'Brussels'
which is a short-hand term for the Commission. The United Kingdom Government
has developed a reputation for being over-pernickety or over-enthusiastic in
interpreting the application of directives and for adopting an excessively
bureaucratic approach to changing UK law to comply with them.
A high proportion
of European Union legislation requires unanimous agreement in Council but the
Single European Act introduced a method of qualified majority voting which was
extended by the Maastricht Treaty. There are proposals to extend this majority
voting system further but the UK Government of Mr Major strongly opposed the
idea. The numbers are modified with each accession of new members but, in 1997,
were as follows:
|
№,
of votes
|
Germany,
France, Italy, UK
|
10
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Spain
|
8
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Belgium,
Greece, Netherlands, Portugal
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5
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Austria,
Sweden
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4
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Ireland,
Denmark, Finland
|
3
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Luxemburg
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2
|
Total
|
87
|
When a Commission
proposal is being considered, at least 62 votes must be in favour. In other
cases, the Qualified Majority Vote (QMV) is also 62 but at least 10 states must
vote in favour. In 1994 only about 14 per cent of the legislation adopted in
the Council was passed by QMV. Whether the proposed legislation is subject to a
QMV or not depends on the relevant Act or treaty under which it is discussed
and which 'pillar' of the European Union it appears under. Items under the
first pillar may or may not be subject to the QMV depending on whether they are
designated for that under the Single European Act or the Treaty on Union. Items
under the second pillar, that is Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and
under the third pillar, that is Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) are not because
they rely on what is called 'intergovernmental cooperation'. See Figure 19.2.
for the so-called pillar structure of the EU since the Maastricht Treaty.
When EU laws are
passed the Commission puts on its hat as 'Guardian of the Treaties' and makes
sure that the laws are implemented according to the original intentions. It may
take countries or organisations to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in order
to get a legal determination of an issue. The ECJ is an institution with a
growing role and importance and is beginning to have a significant impact on
national laws through its interpretations. United Kingdom 'Eurosceptics' want
its powers curtailed or even abolished because some of its decisions on social
legislation and fishing have upset the UK government. The political argument
about the ECJ disguises the more important discussion of the relationship
between national laws and EU law. So far the ECJ has established the principle,
as did the USA Supreme Court in the relationship of Federal and State laws,
that national laws must be subordinate to EU law. Incidentally, you should not
confuse, as does the UK media from time to time, the European Court of Justice
with the European Court of Human Rights whose decisions also annoy Little
Englanders.
Subsidiarity
There are several
interpretations of this term but, essentially, it means that action should be
taken in the EU at the most appropriate level, whether it be at community or
national or even regional level. The concept is increasingly applied to
European Union decision making. The United Kingdom tends to interpret and
advocate it as a way of restraining the growth of the Union's federalist
tendency but the idea does work both ways. There are, for example, many
occasions when joint action by all members is desirable and more effective.
The annual budget
of the EU (technically of the European Community) is fixed by the Council of
Ministers and the European Parliament by a process called 'the shuttle' which
begins in June when a preliminary draft budget is published. From this
preliminary effort the Council draws up a proper draft budget in July which
goes to the Parliament for its first reading in October. It returns to the
Council which gives it its own second and final reading in November. When the
Council has finished with it the budget goes again to the Parliament for its
second reading and final adoption, usually in mid-December.
Some of the
expenditure allowed for in the budget is designated as compulsory expenditure
which is defined as such on the basis of whether it results from the European
Community Treaty and from acts adopted in accordance with it. The Council has
the final say on this type of spending, most of which is agricultural or about
half the budget. The Parliament has the final say on most of the remaining
expenditure. There is usually some wrangling between the Parliament and the
Council over amendments proposed by the Parliament which almost always wants to
raise spending.
The annual budget
is set up within a framework called The Financial Perspective which is a plan
incorporating the four years ahead with ceilings laid down for expenditure on
the six main categories within the budget. The 1995 budget, for example,
included agriculture, structural actions, internal policies, external action,
administrative expenditure and reserves. The commitments will lead to actual
payments in the future.
Sources of
revenue for the Union
The Community has
four sources of revenue which together are called 'own resources'. The history
of how the EU came eventually to have these own resources is long and tortuous.
The four, with 1995 figures, are:
- Agricultural and sugar
levies,
£1546 million in 1995, are placed on
imports of agricultural products from non-members. They raise the price
of imports from world price levels to the level of the threshold prices
fixed
for Community agricultural products.
- Customs duties, £10 187 million
in 1995, are received from trade with
non-members.
- Contributions based on
VAT,
£30 973 million in 1995. The calculation
of this is complex but each member pays over an amount which is
calculated by applying a notional rate of VAT to an identical 'basket' of
goods and services in each member state. The amount payable is subject to
a restriction or cap based on the size of the member's Gross National
Product.
- Gross national product (GNP)
based contributions, £17 121 in 1995, which are calculated by taking the same
proportion of each member's GNP. This source, which is also called the 'Fourth
Resource', is used to make up the difference between the EU's expenditure
and the revenue expected from the first three sources, and is subject to
an overall own resources ceiling.
The total for
1995 for these four sources of revenue was £59827 million. The present
system of finances was agreed in 1988, 1992 and 1994. Under these there are
maximum contributions or own resources ceilings established until 1999:
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