Brussels, the European Union.

Brussels, the European Union.

Introduction

The European Union is a collection of former European states and began as a customs union and free trade area. Currently, the EU exists as a supranational entity with legal, trade, border, and security entities. The association does not manifest characteristic of either a federal state since the management relies on a byzantine bureaucracy in Brussels. Positive attributes of the association are strengthening the prosperity and stability in Europe following the fall of the Second World War and berlin wall. The union, however, is suffering from slowing economic growth, falling behind emergent financial and manufacturing giant’s china. The EU model is reliant on the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951 structure, which sought to entrench trade-in the form of a stock market without increasing human capital costs that limit the success of democracies. The paper focuses on historical elements of the European Union, assessing free trade benefits, border and security implications by immigration, and the future of the union following the centralization of political power and customs bureaucracy in the association.

The Union

The union was established following the Treaty of Rome, signed by constituent 6 member parties in 1957. Following the adoption of a policy to create the European Economic Community (EEC), the union became popular for free trade and lower costs of transferring human capital without border limitations. The emergence of a favorable common market and a customs union enticed new countries in Europe, joining the six original EU members (Schwenken, 2017). Belgium and France initially aired favors for the establishment of the union. Other countries, including Holland, Italy, Luxembourg, and West Germany, joined the proposal, initiating the process of lowered price controls and production quotas/ the post-war prosperity benefits of the EU model facilitated conditions for reconstruction and internal economic reforms in the society.

Strong intra-EU trade policies and reduces the costs of communications, thereby enhancing income-generating activities. Securing financial transfers by the adoption of sting cyber and anti-fraud systems improve the confidence of investors, and reducing instances of white crime (Panke, 2016). Adherence and encouraging support of NATO improve member states’ border control and reducing terrorism and in regulated marine immigration.

Overregulation and regional protectionism

The EU model, however, suffers from overregulation and centralization, causing inequity in the distribution of critical financial and security sectors among member countries, the current European countries that are members of the union seek to uphold access to immigration, and reliance on decades of openness in human rights. Political decisions such as Brexit have led to exposing financial regulation challenges, and the question of individual state sovereignty in terms of justice and the legal system (Thorhallsson, 2017). Regional protectionism of trade and movement of human capital to non-member states is a social limitation by the union. For instance, the recent wave of immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa has caused divisions in the human rights consideration. Moreover, Easterners in the union reject immigration from Africa, due to the association with terrorism that reduces social security and free movement of labor along the borders.

Flexibility is essential by eliminating overregulation as a challenge from Brussel’s influence of member states on internal and local politics, and trade decisions (Woolcock, 2016). Problems include restless electorates calling for a division of the union through initiatives such as Brexit. The current existence as an association of states rather than a government cause inefficiencies in streaming policy formulation and management (Olsen, & McCormick, 2018). The 28 Member States forming the union encourage respect and refrain from interfering on the sovereignty to EU institutions. With more than 60 years of peace in border policy, customs, and trade tariffs, the union has ensured stability and prosperity in Europe. The adoption of a single currency benefits the union through stabilized costs of products and services, such as uniformed fare in the rapid transit system in Europe.

Customs and Free trade

By seeking to enhance citizens’ living standards, the union adopted a single European currency (the euro) to stabilize pricing and factors such as inflation. The implementation of a Europe-wide free market for goods improved a variety of medicines and essential products, leading to an increase in hospital attendance and lowered cases of chronic illnesses (Woolcock, 2016). An improvement in the health and individual hygiene in the union correlates with improved productivity and enhancing interactions among cultures. Moreover, allowing a free movement of human services, people, and capital has grown earning potentials and increasing cultural diversity (Thorhallsson, 2017). The costs of transportation have been lowered due to the electrification of transit and metric systems and allowing unlimited technological transfer since World War II. Human capital has the benefit of traveling across borders with minimal custom checks and favored by domestic security partnerships.

Supranational dream challenges

Challenges to Europe include a monetary policy that is becoming a source of conflict between member states. The failed fiscal and immigration policies have led to the collapse of Greece’s economy and divisions in adopting a common policy framework in the adoption and allocation of non-EU immigrants (Schwenken, 2017). The union has to devise policies and think tanks to evaluate low economic growth and high unemployment, causing a crisis in the allocation of immigrants/ moreover, mass immigration and rising debt are causing a crisis in government and financial institutions, translating to volatility in local politics. Another challenge is the increasing expansion of debt by taking advantage of historically low-interest rates leading to the collapse of the Greek economy, and increasing financial tensions in Italy. Debate exists on the future presence of Greece in the Eurozone due to a history of legal punishments that create divisions in the economic, immigration allocation due to welfare effects.

Conclusion

Changes in the union include changing demographics, such as low birth rates in Germany and Scandinavian countries. Moreover, an aging population is reducing the demand for products leading to destroying or dumping the extra resources in Third World markets. As such, a negative externality emerges through undermining local producers of developing nations and furthering income and wealth inequity in the world. Despite strong backing and implementation of Article 125 of the Lisbon Treaty, the member states maintain that an individual state is responsible for its debts, leading to a lack of interventions in economic crisis. The collapse of economies, trade agreements, and Brexit is an indication of the inability of member states to resolve internal tensions in the union.