1. Historical Origins of the EU Everything has a Provenance. Here it is called history.

2. Unifying Episodes Europe has “come together” several times in the past. This has normally been the result of military conquest and domination. Rome, Napoleon, Hitler are all associated with such “empires”.

3. Continental Empires There were, within Europe, several enduring Empires that brought together many “nationalities” under one monarch. Most famous was the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Much of south-eastern Europe had been under Ottoman occupation for, in the case of Bulgaria, 500 years. So they were pulled into an Oriental, non- European Empire.

4. The Last Imperial Effort The last major attempt to “unite” Europe under one dominant system or culture, was the “Cold War” and the belief in the universal nature of Communism. The US believed in the universal superiority of democracy. So we had a stand off right across Europe.

5. Nationalities and States We come now to the second force operating across the European map. Nationalism Some nations had more or less always been states—like France, but many others were in bits and pieces. The Catholic Church was a big unifying feature in Europe, and held temporal authority through the Holy Roman Empire, which was neither Holy nor Roman. But it provided a superstructure. When Catholicism was challenged by the Reformation and the rise of Protestant churches the Holy Roman Empire collapsed. To replace it came the Treaty of Westphalia.

6. Nationalism 2 People united by a culture and language (Czechs, Hungarians etc) sought to have their own countries. This was a significant factor in the many revolutions of 1848—nearly all of which failed.

7. Germany and Italy The many German states came together in a Customs Union that opened the borders to trade, and this was a step toward the German state Germany was unified in 1871 and Italy in 1860-1870.

8. First World War Affirmed the rights of nationalities to their own states Wilson’s “Fourteen Points” Many new nation-states were formed.

9. The Second World War After the defeat of Hitler, the struggle came between expansionist USSR and the West It was important to give the West some economic boost (Marshall Plan) and prevent national rivalries re-emerging. There was a need to prevent war France and Germany had been to war three times between 1870 and 1945—each war being more humiliating and devastating than the last

10. Success To keep a perspective, if the primary aim was to stop the nations of Europe going to war, especially over resources, then it was a fantastic success We should not forget this.

11. This was the birth of the EU First, take away the competition for resources, which had led to war. Coal and Steel Community, Atomic. Try to create: “Shared Vision”, “Common Economic Space”, Rapid Recovery to defeat Communism inside Western Europe.

12. The EEC 1957 The vision of two men: Monet and Schumann pushed the union. In 1957 six countries signed the Treaty of Rome, eliminating the borders for trade within them. The aim “an ever-closer union.” This was never defined.

13. Expansion Up to 1997, the Union continued to grow as new countries applied for membership. After the fall of Communism the applications grew rapidly with Central and Eastern European states wishing to join.

14. But what is the EU It is far more than a “free trade area” though it is, of course, a FTA. It enabled the free movement of goods, capital and labor—this was a major reduction in sovereignty. It has a parliament, which is a political institution. (NAFTA has no parliament)

15. Confusions Though it had a Parliament, it had no powers to initiate or confirm legislation. But it was the political voice of the Union. The Commission was the body with the power, but it is an unelected bureaucracy. However, the EU can make legislation that is binding on members. This called the “Democratic Deficit.”

16. Europe v the Nations So, there is a challenge between national sovereignty and the EU Big problem for the UK, for instance. Schengen treaty affirmed right of movement among member states for work: after 1997, UK restricted that for some countries and never joined Schengen. (First and second-class states?) All countries except UK and Ireland are members of the Schengen Area. Some non-EU countries are too: Norway, Iceland, Switzerland for instance. Bulgaria and Romania and not yet fully in the system.

17. Statehood While it is not a state, the EU has many of the powers of a state: Legislative power is the principal among these and it overrides national governments. It has ambassadors, a flag etc. A “State in Denial.”

18. But, not a state… In two ways, the EU does not resemble a state: It has no independent military force to reflect a group of states with >400m people. It has no real foreign policy in an effective sense. In Iraq, some EU states were involved, some were not.

19. But, what about NATO It is based in Brussels, like the EU, but it is not a European organization. >80% of its budget is paid by the USA and because of this European countries have neglected their military spending. The air power and smart weapons are all from the USA and controlled by them. The US will take military action independent of NATO as it did in Iraq and Afghanistan, but Europe is unable to take the same independent initiative because the forces are not united. NATO comes in after the action has taken place as in both Iraq and Afghanistan, though individual European members of NATO may have participated in the original actions—neither the EU nor NATO did. In fact, these actions split the EU and showed there was no common foreign policy, until NATO came in as a “Peace Keeper”

20. How did it work? Free trade and labor movement were automatic. However, the main tool for unification was standardization, which means having common standards across the Eu. It sounds innocent and technical but it is NOT. Standardizing labor policy, educational programs, diplomas—all become political

21. Objectives Remove all “barriers to trade”, but what is a barrier to trade? Changing currency is one case, and so we got the Euro, which has become the focus of the most important crisis between the EU and the member states.

22. “Economics v Politics” In the days of Adam Smith, his subject was called Political Economy. There is no economics without politics ALL the key decisions made in the EU were political in origin and economic by method. But can this pretense continue? Originally this was the European Economic Communities. Now?