GP- Regionalism & The EU: European integration and developments Flashcards
What is the deepest form of regional cooperation that has been achieved, as mentioned in the text?
A: The deepest form of regional cooperation has been achieved in Europe, with the establishment of the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1957, which became the European Union (EU) in 1993.
Q: What traumatic event had a significant effect on Europe, leading to the desire for deeper cooperation?
A: The Second World War (1939-45).
Q: What did liberal politicians, including Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet, envision for Europe after the war?
A: They envisaged a Europe without national borders in which wars based on state egoism could never again occur with such devastating consequences.
Q: What specific quote did Jean Monnet give at the end of the Second World War regarding peace in Europe?
A: “There will be no peace in Europe if the states rebuild themselves on the basis of national sovereignty, with its implications of prestige politics and economic protection.”
Q: Who were the founding members of the European Economic Community (EEC)?
A: France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
Q: Which Western European countries joined the EEC in 1973?
A: The UK, Ireland, and Denmark.
Q: Which country joined the EEC in 1981?
A: Greece.
Q: Which countries joined the EEC in 1986?
A: Spain and Portugal.
Q: Which countries joined the European Union (EU) in 1995?
A: Austria, Sweden, and Finland.
Q: What principle is central to European integration?
A: The principle of the four freedoms.
Q: What are the four freedoms?
A: The free movement across Europe of goods, capital, services, and people.
Q: What was the intended purpose of the four freedoms?
A: To create a single market, uniting European states’ economies in the same way as a sovereign nation state’s economy operates.
Q: How did the free flow of people across borders aim to challenge differences and rivalries between nation states?
A: By allowing the free flow of people across borders to live and work, the differences and rivalries between nation states would also be challenged as national borders became increasingly meaningless.
Q: What additional economic benefit would the EEC/EU gain?
A: A common external tariff, further uniting the interests of the member states.
Q: When was the single market completed?
A: 1993.
Q: Why did it take some decades to fully liberalize European trade on all goods?
A: Because it took some decades to fully liberalise European trade on all goods.
Q: What was the next phase of the European project after completing the single market?
A: To advance political and monetary union, moving into policy areas that were normally the sole responsibility of member states.
Q: What treaty advanced this next phase of the European project?
A: The Maastricht Treaty (1993).
Q: What specific actions did the Maastricht Treaty (1993) take?
A: It replaced the EEC with the EU, established the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), and committed the EU to monetary union.
Q: When did the EU’s monetary union become operational?
A: 2002.
Q: How is the EU described in terms of regional organizations?
A: The EU is the world’s most highly developed regional organisation.
Q: How many member states does the EU have?
A: 27.
Q: What is “European Integration” according to the text?
A: The process by which the EU has developed according to the principle of ‘ever closer union’ so that member states’ sovereignty is increasingly pooled in supranational institutions of governance.
