The Importance of the EU

It was established in Chapter 1 that the European Union (EU) is the most significant and influential of all schemes of international economic integration. This is due to several EU attributes. Because of its Single European Market (SEM), people, goods, services and capital (both money and the right of establishment) are free to move across the entire EU. It speaks with one voice in international trade negotiations through the Commissioner in charge of Trade. Eighteen of its twenty-eight Member States have the same currency (the euro), with the European Central Bank (ECB) in charge of the Eurozone monetary policy, and all the remaining Member States bar two (Denmark and the UK) must join the Eurozone when ready by meeting the Maastricht criteria. It has a system for monitoring and influencing fiscal policy, the Stability and Growth Pact. It has its own budget, financing a wide range of policies. It has a single president of the European Council who speaks on behalf of the entire EU for two and a half to five years. There is no more ‘who to call when one wants to speak to Europe?’ It has, as a member of the Commission, thus in office for five years, a Foreign Policy Chief (High Representative, HR) who deals with all foreign policy matters on behalf of the whole EU and controls a vast diplomatic corps. It has the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) as well as the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) with huge funds to assist Eurozone Member States in financial trouble, and it is in the process of creating a banking union.