Relations between the Branches - Topic 4.3 Flashcards
The aims, role and impact of the EU
What are the aims of the EU?
‘An ever-closer union among the peoples of Europe’ - Integration and expansion are to encourage peace, prosperity and liveral democracy across Europe, so banishing the prospect of war by eliminating the national differences and jealousies that can encourage conflict.
A core aspiration is expressed in the four freedoms and is envisaged in a single European market. By eliminating national barriers, members of the EU would achieve so much prosperity through interconnectedness that war between them would be unthinkable.
What is the importance of the monetary union of the EU?
The principle of monetary uion established that European integration would inspire both economic and monetary union, which was introduced with the introduction of the Euro in 1999, and adopted in 2002 by the EEC’s founding members. The European Central Bank was created and sets a common interest rate for members for the eurozone.
20 EU countries currently use the Euro as of 2024, and 6 who are non-EU
How does the EU protect social unity and human rights?
The President of the EC in the 1980s emphasised that European integration should also encourage workers’ rights and the Maastricht Treaty included the Social Chapter, which established certain rights that all workers in the EU can claim in areas such as health and safety, freedom from discrimination, equal treatment, paid holidays, working hours and conditions, and parental leave on the birth of a child.
The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU was proclaimed in 2000, and then legally binding all members when they ratified the Lisbon Treaty in 2009. The human rights that the charter guarantees significantly overlap with the ECHR, the main difference is that the charter only applies to areas connected to EU law and is applied through the ECJ.
How does the EU create common foreign and defence policy?
The Maastricht Traety committed the EU to a common foreign and defence policy, of which was advanced in the Lisbon Treaty. It provided the EU with a legal identity so that it can negotiate on equal terms with nation states and an EU diplomatic service. It also established a full-time President of the European Council and a High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, both of whom represent the EU in its dealings with other world leaders.
What were the benefits of the EU for the UK?
Economic benefits:
- Duty-free access to the world’s second largest economy. Exports were cheaper, and consumers had cheaper goods
- EU immigrants contributed to tax revenue because they were in the workforce than what they claimed in benefits. 2013-14 tax year: £14.7bn in tax revenue, £2.6bn in tax credit and child benefits
- More than 3 million jobs relied on trade with the EU. Net benefit of the EU to the UK economy was 4-5% of GDP
- British entrepreneurs could set up/expand their businesses elsewhere in the EU because of the four freedoms
What were the benefits of the EU for the UK?
Social and security benefits:
- EU students could study anywhere in the EU; with the Erasmus program, 200,000 British students were studying abroad in the EU
- Elderly EU citizens could retire in an EU country and still receive a British pension
- The Social Charter provided safeguards for workers (e.g., Working Time Directive - max. 48 hour working week + 4 weeks paid holiday)
- ECFR (European Charter of Fundamental Rights) was incorporated into EU law, increasing rights of workers and immigrants in the UK
- UK could assert shared values in a multipolar world with the EU’s backing
- Peace and stability in Europe can be attributed to the EEC/EU
What arguments were there against EU membership?
Legal, social and democratic cases:
- Challenged parliamentary sovereignty. Parliament lost its sovereign right to legislate on behalf of the British public
- Democratic deficit at the heart of the EU, the EC isn’t directly elected and the EP has less direct influence than other legislatures
- Creating another layer of unnecessary laws which may not serve the people of a certain nation. Implementation of EU law costed £33 billion a year
- Attempts to integrate the UK with the EU only propagated xenophobia instead of a united European identity, especially those who were poorer and not as wealthy as the average
What arguments were there against EU membership?
Economic cases:
- Common Agricultural Policy was 38% of the EU’s budget from 2014-20, protecting farmers’ livelihoods and subsidising production and protection from outside non-EU competition. The UK’s farming industry was small, so we benefited little from it. Other argue that because the UK signed it, we had to subsidise a protectionist scheme, discriminating against the development of the world and goes against free-market principles on which the EU is supposed to be founded on
- Trade with the EU: 2006 - 54% → 2016 - 43; suggests the UK was more focused on looking for global markets rather than prioritising the EU market
- UK contributed more than what we got back in CAP and regional grant; in 2017, the UK contributed £8.9bn to the EU
What impact did Brexit have on the UK?
- A full restoration of parliamentary sovereignty
- Pro-European Conservatives don’t align with the agenda of the Tories anymore, and so feel less aligned with their chosen party, with most not even having a political home
- Executive has been able to increase its scope, e.g., the removal of the Fixed Term Parliament Act of 2011; the PM now decides when elections are
- Growing clashes between the Executive and Supreme Court, e.g., the Gina Miller Cases (2017 & 19)
- The integrity of the union is breaking as Scotland & Northern Ireland voted to remain and England and Wales to leave. This has led to a significant rise in the SNP and a growing push for independence
- The Northern Ireland Protocol; DUP view it as threatening Northern Ireland’s partnership in the union, which ultimately led to the collapse of the Stormont government in 2022, and was only restored two years later
