Assessing the EU (2)

Question 1

What did Alan Milward argue?

Answer 1

That economic interests compelled Western European countries to integrate, however national governments only shared sovereignty to the extent that was necessary to resolve their problems

Question 2

What did Western Germany create after the beginning of the Cold War?

Answer 2

The democratic and free market institutions which became the Federal Republic of Germany

Question 3

What did the USA create to battle Communism?

Answer 3

The Marshall Plan

Question 4

On what condition did France offer to support the Marshall Plan for Germany?

Answer 4

If Germany’s coal production (a key material for war) remained under international control

Question 5

What was the Schengen Agreement (1985)?

Answer 5

A declaration which removed all border control among its signatories (singed by Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands)

Question 6

Define subsidiarity

Answer 6

Action should be taken at the government level that is best able to achieve policy goals as close to the will of the citizens as possible

Question 7

What was the purpose of the Schuman Plan?

Answer 7

To protect French interests by ensuring continued access to German resources through cooperation

Question 8

When was the European Defence Community launched and what was it?

Answer 8

1952 - A treaty signed by the ECSC countries to establish a defence community and provide the best means of managing West German recovery. German military units were included in this after the outbreak of the Korean War

Question 9

What was the Western European Union?

Answer 9

An army formed by West Germany which joined NATO in 1955

Question 10

Why were international trade relations on the rise in the mid-1950s?

Answer 10

Due to liberation measures in the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)

Question 11

Which idea did the Netherlands propose in 1956?

Answer 11

The EEC and the Customs Union

Question 12

What happens in a free trade area?

Answer 12

Goods travel freely among member states but the individual countries have the authority to determine trade with countries not part of the FTA (e.g. European Free Trade Association)

Question 13

What may no member of a Customs Union have?

Answer 13

A separate preferential trading relationship with a third country (or group of them)

Question 14

What does a Common Market provide?

Answer 14

The free movement of services, capital and labour as well as the free movement of goods

Question 15

What was the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)?

Answer 15

Includes a single currency, monetary policy and close coordination of fiscal policy

Question 16

When did France fully participate in the introduction of the Customs Union?

Answer 16

1958 - after the fall of the French Fourth Republic and the introduction of the Fifth Republic upon De Gaulle’s return

Question 17

Why was EURATOM created?

Answer 17

Due to the rapidly growing physics industry

Question 18

Why did De Gaulle reject Britain’s application to join the EC in 1961?

Answer 18

Because it wished to protect its interests within the Commonwealth (went against the third party rule) and so De Gaulle continuously rejected their application. When America supported British membership in the EC as part of the Grand Design (economic union between the US and Europe) De Gaulle quashed American ambition in Europe

Question 19

What was the Luxembourg Compromise?

Answer 19

The terms of the Rom Treat would stand but the Council would not take a vote if a member state insisted that its very important interests were at stake; this tipped the balance toward intergovernmentalism in the Community’s decision making process

Question 20

Which 2 policies were introduced due to a period of stagflation in 1970s and 80s?

Answer 20

• European Monetary System (EMS - the Euro) - A single currency throughout Europe
• Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) - The regulation of currency fluctuations at its core which the UK declined to participate in

Question 21

When did France and West Germany agree to abolish border checks and what did this lead to?

Answer 21

1984 - the Schengen Agreement for the free movement of people

Question 22

When was the Single Market Programme proposed and what was the response from businesses?

Answer 22

1984 - Responded well to the prospect of a fully integrated European Marketplace

Question 23

What was the 3 pillar structure the EU was established into?

Answer 23

• First Pillar - Comprised the EC (including the EMU). The Maastricht Treaty extended the EP’s legislative power by introducing the co-decision procedure (made the Parliament a legally and politically co-legislator within the Council of Ministers)
• Second Pillar - Comprised the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) as a direct response to the external challenges to the post cold-war period
• Third Pillar - Comprised cooperation on justice and home affairs (especially immigration, asylum and criminal matters)

Question 24

Give 4 conclusions to the history of the EU

Answer 24

• It was in the national interests of independent countries to unite politically and economically
• The EC was a bargain struck for mutual economic gain between West Germany and France and to strengthen national security
• Some national leaders were (and currently are) strongly committed to a federal EU but managed to move Europe only in that direction when ideological ambition coincided with current preference
• History shows that countries can overcome institutional and policy differences for common economic and political interests