MÁSTER EN RELACIONES INTERNACIONALES Y COMERCIO EXTERIOR MÓDULO DE UNIÓN EUROPEA. Five Weaknesses of the European Union

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1 MÁSTER EN RELACIONES INTERNACIONALES Y COMERCIO EXTERIOR MÓDULO DE UNIÓN EUROPEA Five Weaknesses of the European Union Fecha de entrega del documento: 06/ 04 / 2010 Nombre, dirección de correo electrónico y tiempo dedicado: Apellidos, Nombre Correo Electrónico Nº de Horas Marcos Hidalgo, Sandra Sandramarcochidalgo@hotmail.com 20 P1

2 RESUMEN La crisis actual está poniendo al descubierto las debilidades de la Unión Europea. En este trabajo mencionaremos las principales debilidades existentes en la actualidad en la Unión. Hablaremos en detalle de cinco de estas analizándolas más en profundidad, pondremos algunos ejemplos para explicar mejor dichas debilidades y concluiremos con la aportación de algunas ideas sobre cómo transformar estas debilidades en fortalezas. La última ampliación de la fue en el 2007, con la unión de Rumania y Bulgaria, esto indica que la está todavía en construcción esto explica algunas de las debilidades que aquí se mencionan. ABSTRACT The current crisis is exposing the weaknesses of the European Union. This paper will mention the main weaknesses currently existing in European Union. We will discuss in detail five of these further analyze the contribution, exposing some examples to explain clearly the weaknesses and conclude with some ideas on how to transform these weaknesses into strengths. The latest enlargement of the European Union was in 2007, with the joining of Romania and Bulgaria which indicates that the European Union is still under construction and this explains some of the weaknesses mentioned herein. BRAIN STORMING- WEAKNESSES Aging of the population - Low birthrate - Lack of social cohesion - Several Languages - Territorial imbalance - Complex institution structure - I+ DT+ i Controversial immigration policy - Shortage of power resources ( gas & oil) P2

3 1. LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY The European Union is composed of 27 countries and has 23 official languages. Each state member has to stipulate one or more languages to be declared as official in the European Union. The official languages in the Union are divided into three family groups, the Indo-European, Finurgic and Semitic. The multilinguistical policy from the Union is unique in the world. The European Union has the conviction that it is the key of its transparency, legitimacy and efficiency. The European Union is increasing the knowledge and the use of its official languages around all his territory. In the past only one foreign language was mandatory to study during the compulsory education, nowadays two are the languages recommended to study for the European Union members. It was recommended after the Barcelona European Council in Due to the several languages that exist in the Union will be better for the citizens to speak at least two more languages and its mother tongue. This will increase the opportunities to find an employment in the union and not only in the origin country. In the article 22 of the charter of the fundamental rights in the European Union it is said that the linguistic diversity has to be respected and the article 21 prohibits the discrimination for the reason of the language. But besides that not everything is positive for the union due to this Babel Tower is that a lot of money has to be spent in the European Union to translate documents and for the interpreters that have to work in all the meeting in the Union. P3

4 In the future the best choice will be to choose just one language in common for all the administrative and meetings in the union. If we have a look in the next figure English is the most language studied for the members in the European Union. It does not mean that people has to forget their mother tongue, but if all the citizens learn one language in common will be easier to communicate each other in the Union, and it will increase the feeling that we belong to the same place. For example the European Union has to encourage the Erasmus grant, giving for example more money, if the young Europeans have the opportunity to travel and to meet people from other countries they will learn easily new languages at the same time that the will feel more European. Proportion of pupils learning foreign languages in primary school, by language, 2006 (1). Source: Eurostat (educ_ilang), Unesco, OECD (1) Refer to the Internet metadata fi le ( France, not available; Luxembourg, not available for English; the Netherlands and Norway, not available for French and German; Slovenia and Iceland, not available for French. P4

5 2. AGEING POPULATION Three factors are at the heart of Europe s ageing society: persistently low fertility rates, high life expectancy, and baby-boom generations that reach higher ages. In the next figure, extracted from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs/Population Division, it is shown how the old population has been increasing in the last few years. Population by age class, EU-27 (1997=100) Source: Eurostat (tps00010) If we compare the European Union with the rest of the world, as we see in the next figure, the population in Europe estimated for 2050 will be the oldest in the world. Therefore the European Union has a big problem; more people will be inactive in comparison with people working. Therefore, who will pay the pensions of this entire people? P5

6 Old-Age dependency ratio: major areas, 2009 and 2050 But it is not the only problems of having old people in the European Union, the old population is more conservative than the young population, and therefore tends to take less risk, to be more paralyzed and to innovate less. This implies a society less dynamic and less enterprising. For this problem there are only two solutions, one is to increase the birth rate in Europe, giving financial aid and somehow encouraging families to have more children, scholarships, free books... and the other one is to encourage the immigration, controlling it and helping them to integrate in our society. P6

7 3. MIGRATION POLICY Due to the increment of immigration flow into the European Union in the last few years, particularly since 2002 (see next figure), a new policy in immigration has become necessary in the Union. The migrations are mainly produced by economics, politics and social events. Taking into account the economic development of the European Union compared with the rest of the world, Africa or Latin America for example, this makes the European Union more attractive to people from countries less developed. It happens especially in the euro-zone, where the flow of migrations is higher than the rest of the European Union. The typology of entry differs widely between Member States. Important regularizations took place in Spain while France, Germany and The Netherlands opted for limited regularizations for specific groups of immigrants. Net migration (including corrections), EU-27 (1) Source: Eurostat (tsdde230) (1) Break in series: up to and including France includes metropolitan regions only; 2007 data are provisional. P7

8 The most numerous groups of third-country nationals in the EU 1 come from Turkey (2.3 million), Morocco (1.7 million), Albania (0.8 million) and Algeria (0.6 million). However, the number of foreign-born citizens in some Member States, like France, Sweden, The Netherlands and UK, is higher than the number of thirdcountry nationals as many immigrants acquired the citizenship of the host country. On the other hand, and linking with the weakness of the EU named above, an ageing population, immigration is a possible solution to this issue. The European Union needs more people from other countries to solve its problems so the Union Migration Policy has to change and has to help more to foreign people to come to Europe. The new policy has to offer them more facilities to come to Europe, working hard in avoiding and controlling the illegal immigration. As Montserrat Lopez Cobo 2 said; There is still a long way in establishing and consolidating a common policy on migration and asylum in the EU. Another personalities well known in the international community, like Felipe Gonzalez, had criticized the migratory policy of the European Union. Clumsiness of the EU immigration policy, recalling that "we should thank the European immigrants that we had pensions" El Pais 1. Commission of the European Union. Brussels, Director of the Permanent Observatory of Immigration (Ministry of Immigration and Emigration, Ministry of Labour and Immigration) P8

9 4. SOCIAL COHESION The social cohesion 3 can be identifying with several elements: a) Order and social control. b) Common values and civic culture. c) Solidarity and the reduction of disparities in the distribution of wealth. d) The sense of belonging and identity defined by the territory, culture or other factors. The European Union has many differences because it is composed of 27 countries, most of them are identified like Anglo-Saxon, continental or Nordic cultures. It is obvious that to get a social cohesion between all the countries is a very complicate issue. The things that all this European Countries have in common are the solidarity, the equal right of opportunities, and the fight against the discrimination. But there is not an equal rent or employment among all the countries in the European Union. An example is When Spain jointed the European Union was clearly less developed in comparison with France, Germany. But after belonging to the European Union the country received a lot of support from the rest of the countries, now, after several years, Spain is nearly to those countries. Spain is a more developed country but still not comparable with countries like Germany. It is an example of how the European Union can improve the social cohesion but it is very difficult for some countries to reach the equality in some ways. Therefore in the future, as Spain, the new countries that jointed the European Union that are now poorest and less develop will reach in the future a better economic situation, but to get a 100% social cohesion is a hard goal for all the countries that belong to the European Union. 3 Cohesión Social: la experiencia de la UE y las enseñanzas para América Latina. José Antonio Sanahuja. P9

10 In the website of the European Union there is an article that talks about what was explained above. This Article is called: Europeans broadly satisfied with their lives, but survey highlights concerns over the future of the economic and social situation. 4 The Eurobarometer on the social climate in the EU found large differences between countries, with people in the Nordic countries and the Netherlands generally most satisfied with their personal situation. The survey forms part of the European Commission's Social Situation Report, also released today, which examines social trends in Europe, this year focusing on housing. According to the Eurobarometer survey, a majority of Europeans are satisfied with life in general, giving an average score of +3.2 points (on a scale of -10 to +10). But there are big differences between Member States: the highest level of satisfaction was reported in Denmark, (+8.0), with Sweden, the Netherlands and Finland also having high levels. The lowest levels of satisfaction were reported in Bulgaria (-1.9), followed by Hungary, Greece and Romania. When it comes to public services, Europeans are on average quite dissatisfied with the way their public administrations are run (-1.2 points). In every country, apart from Luxembourg and Estonia, Europeans feel that this has worsened over the last five years and expect it to continue to get worse (in all countries except Luxembourg). When asked about specific public policies, Europeans are broadly satisfied with healthcare provision (+1.3 points), with people in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg most satisfied (over +5 points) and those in Bulgaria, Greece and Romania least satisfied (-3 points or less). 4 P10

11 Europeans were most dissatisfied with the way inequalities and poverty are addressed in their country (-2 points). Only respondents in Luxembourg and the Netherlands awarded a positive score, while respondents in Latvia and Hungary were the most strongly dissatisfied (-5 points or worse). As is shown in the Article, there is not yet a social cohesion in the European Union. This difference can be appreciated specially between the old members (Luxemburg and Belgium) and the new members (Bulgaria and Romania). That reflects that the European Union is still under construction and it will take more time to reach a solid structure. P11

12 5. COMPLEX INSTITUTION STRUCTURE The European Union is well known because has a very complex institution structure. Even the citizens in the Union do not know how it is working. This affects especially to the youngest members of the Union. There is still a long way to solidify the institution structure. The European Union has always been aware of this; proof of this is the last treaty of Lisbon, in force since 2009, where the Union has tried to simplify the structure by removing the three institutional pillars (European Communities, Common Foreign and Security Policy and cooperation in interior safety judicial politics). 6. CONCLUSION The European Union is still under construction; in 2007 two new members jointed the Union, the Lisbon Treaty is in force since last year, Therefore is too early for the European Union to have a solid system. The European Union still needed some years to solve all this weaknesses that have been mentioned in the document. The Union needs to improve its migration policy, due to we will need more immigrations in the future, as was explained in points 2 and 3. Also need to choose just one language for the meetings and for the documentation to save money and to make the meetings easier to understand for everybody. This does not mean that we have to forget our language the European Union will keep working hard on that, the Union does not want their members to lose their identity. The EU has to simplify its complex institutional structure. If the Union works hard on those issues the social cohesion will come out among the European members. P12

13 7. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1) A dónde va la? Guillermo de la Dehesa. Presidente del CEPR, Centre for Economic Policy Research. 14 May ) "Cómo reforzar el crecimiento en la zona euro". Debate con los Parlamentos nacionales. Reunión interparlamentaria. Bruselas, 20 y 21 de febrero de ) La crisis deja Europa al desnudo. Los Veintisiete son incapaces de pactar políticas comunes para superar el bache. ANDREU MISSÉ Estrasburgo. EL PAÍS - Internacional ) Diez retos para la unión europea en un mundo globalizado. Dr. Pablo Podadera Rivera. Universidad de Málaga (España). Bussels 23/24 November ) La División de Población de Naciones Unidas publica un nuevo informe sobre migraciones de reemplazo. 6) Un lenguaje común para una política de inmigración y asilo en la Unión Europea. Montserrat López Cobo. Área: Demografía y Población- ARI Nº 157/2008 Fecha: 03/12/2008. Nota esperada por el alumno: 4 No he profundizado demasiado. P13