The EU is the largest political and economic entity on the European continent. The EU is a supranational and intergovernmental union of democratic member states which are located primarily in Europe.
The European Union was set up to end frequent and bloody wars between neighbours, which had culminated into World War II. It was important to rebuild Europe eliminating the possibility of another World War.
Thus, West European nations created the Council of Europe in 1949. It was the first step towards cooperation among countries. In 1950, the European Coal and Steel Community united European countries economically and politically in order to secure lasting peace. The six founders were Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
In 1957, the Treaty of Rome created the European Economic Community (EEC), or the ‘Common Market’. Later it was transformed into to the European Community. As for the European Union, it was established in 1993 by the Treaty of Maastricht. Thus, the EU managed to evolve from a trade body into an economic and governmental partnership.
The Union has a single market consisting of a Customs union with a single currency called the euro - the official currency of the Eurozone. It has a common agricultural, trade and fisheries policy, a common external customs tariff, a common position in international trade negotiations, a Common Foreign and Security Policy, a common policy on asylum and immigration and a common funding of research and technological development.
The Schengen Agreement has abolished passport control for the EU member states. Customs checks have been abolished at many of the EU's internal borders, creating a single area of free movement for the EU citizens to live, travel, work and invest.
The EU's decision-making process in general and the co-decision procedure in particular involve three main institutions.
12. the European Parliament (EP), which represents the EU’s citizens and is directly elected by them
13. the Council of the European Union, which represents the individual member states
14. the European Commission, which seeks to uphold the interests of the Union as a whole.
This ‘institutional triangle’ produces the policies and laws that apply throughout the EU. In principle, it is the Commission that proposes new laws, but it is Parliament and Council that adopt them. The Commission and the member states then implement them, and the Commission ensures that the laws are properly taken on board. There are two other institutions that have a vital part to play: the Court of Justice upholds the rule of European law, and the Court of Auditors checks the financing of the Union’s activities.
The EU has no official capital and its institutions are divided between several cities: Brussels, Luxembourg, Strasbourg and Frankfurt.
- Brussels is the seat of the European Commission (staff of about 18,000) and the Council of Ministers. It is also the venue of the European Parliament's committee meetings and mini-sessions. Since 2004 it has become the host city for all European Council summits.
- Strasbourg is the seat of the European Parliament (785 members) and the venue of its twelve week-long plenary sessions each year. Strasbourg is also the seat of the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights, which are not the bodies of the EU.
- Luxembourg City is the seat of the European Court of Justice, the European Court of Auditors, the Secretariat of the European Parliament and the European Investment Bank.
- Frankfurt is the seat of the European Central Bank.
The European Union law is the first and the only example of a supranational legal framework. Becoming EU members, sovereign nation states pool their authority for the mutual social and economic benefit of their peoples.
The EU has significant religious diversity, mirroring its diverse history and culture. A nominal majority of the population professes Christianity, (predominantly Roman Catholicism, Protestantism and Eastern Orthodoxy), Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism.
The European Union has the largest economy in the world considered as a single entity. The EU has 23 official languages and three official alphabets: Latin, Greek and Cyrillic. There are only three internal working languages in the European Commission: English, French and German.
Questions for discussion:
1. What kind of entity is the EU?
2. What is the primary goal of the EU?
3. What does the term “Common market” mean?
4. What is the official currency of the Eurozone?
5. What opportunities does the Schengen Agreement give to the EU member states?
6. What are the main Institutions of the EU?
7. What is the Court of Justice responsible for?
8. What is the Court of Auditorsresponsible for?
9. What can be said about the European Union law?
10. What are the internal working languages in the European Commission?
Text 3: The International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL)
INTERPOL is the world’s largest international police organisation, with 188 member countries. Created in 1923, it facilitates cross-border police co-operation, supports and assists all organisations, authorities and services whose mission is to prevent or combat international crime. INTERPOL aims to facilitate international police co-operation even where diplomatic relations do not exist between particular countries.
INTERPOL goes back to 1914, when the First International Criminal Police Congress was held in Monaco. Its present constitution dates from 1956.
INTERPOL’s main governance comprises the General Assembly and the Executive Committee headed by the President.
As INTERPOL's supreme governing body, the General Assembly meets once a year and takes all the major decisions affecting general policy. It also elects the Organisation's Executive Committee. Generally speaking, the Assembly takes decisions by a simple majority in the form of resolutions. Each Member State represented has one vote.
The Executive Committee supervises the execution of the General Assembly and the work of the Secretary General. The President and three Vice – Presidents must belong to different countries. The President of the Organisation is elected by the General Assembly for a period of four years. His role is to chair the General Assembly and Executive Committee and ensure that INTERPOL’s activities conform with decisions made at these meetings.
The General Secretariat (the headquarters) located in Lyon, France, operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Officials from more than 80 countries work side-by-side in any of the organisation’s four official languages: Arabic, English, French and Spanish. The Secretariat has seven regional offices across the world, a liaison office at the United Nations in New York and special representatives at the EU in Brussels. The General Secretariat is headed by the Secretary General of the Organisation, who is appointed by the General Assembly for a period of 5 years and be re-elected. The Secretary General is the Organisation’s chief full-time official. He is responsible for seeing that the day-to-day work of international police co-operation is carried out, and he is in charge of the implementation of the decisions of the General Assembly and Executive Committee.
Every member country has an Interpol office called a National Central Bureau which is staffed by its own police and keeps in touch with the General Secretariat.
INTERPOL’s principle target is the international criminal, of which there are three main categories:
1) Criminals that operate in more than one country, such as smugglers, dealing mainly with gold and narcotics and other illegal drugs,
2) Criminals who commit crimes in one country and flee to another,
3) Criminals who do not travel at all but whose crimes affect other countries for example a counterfeiter of foreign banknotes.
INTERPOL`s mission is to promote police cooperation: to help officers from different forces, countries, and cultures to cooperate with one another and work together to solve crime. So INTERPOL’s work is largely related to public safety, terrorism and organised crime.
The official languages of INTERPOL are English, French, Spanish and Arabic.
Questions for discussion:
1. What kind of entity is INTERPOL?
2. What is the mission of INTERPOL?
3. What are the main INTERPOL’s governing bodies?
4. How does the General Assembly take decisions?
5. What does the Executive Committee supervise?
6. What is INTERPOL`s chief official responsible for?
7. How is the Secretary General nominated to the position?
8. Where are the headquarters of INTERPOL located?
9. What are the main categories of INTERPOL`s targets?
10. What are the official languages of INTERPOL?
Text 4: The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe is the largest security-oriented organisation in the world. It is an international organisation for securing stability, based on democratic practices and good governance. The OSCE currently has 56 participating states from Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and North America.
The Organisation was established in 1973 as the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). However talks had been mooted about a European security grouping since 1950s. But the Cold War had prevented any substantial progress until the talks at Finland Hall in Helsinki in November 1972. These talks were held at the suggestion of the Soviet Union to reduce tension in the region by furthering economic cooperation and to strengthen piece and security in Europe. A unique aspect of the OSCE is the non-binding status of its provisions. Rather than being a formal treaty, the OSCE Final Act represents a political commitment of all signatories to build security and cooperation in Europe.
The high-level decision making bodies of the organisation are the Summit and the Ministerial Council, with the weekly Permanent Council serving as the regular negotiating and decision-making body, under the leadership of the Chairman-in-Office, who holds the position for a year.
The OSCE Secretariat, under the direction of the Secretary General, provides operational support to the Organisation. It is based in Vienna, Austria and assisted by the office in Prague. The Organisation also has offices in Copenhagen, Geneva, The Hague, Prague and Warsaw.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE is a body of parliamentarians from the OSCE's member states. A forum for the Security Cooperation meets once a year to discuss and make decisions regarding military aspects of security in the OSCE area.
The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights is the oldest OSCE institution, established in 1990. It is based in Warsaw, Poland, and is active throughout the OSCE area in the fields of election observation, democratic development, human rights, tolerance, non-discrimination, and the rule of law. To prevent electoral fraud, the OSCE has observed over 150 elections and referendums since 1995.
The office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, established in December 1997, acts as a watchdog to provide early warning on violations of freedom of expression in the OSCE member states. The OSCE representative also assists member states by advocating and promoting full compliance with the OSCE principles and commitments regarding freedom of expression and free media.
Regular OSCE activities and institutions are financed by contributions made by the OSCE participating States, according to the scale of distribution.
Questions for discussion:
- When was the OSCE established?
- What is the purpose of the OSCE?
- What was the aim of the talks at Finland Hall in Helsinki in November 1972?
- What kind of organisation is the OSCE?
- What are the high-level decision making bodies of the OSCE?
- What is the goal of the oldest OSCE institution?
- Where are the headquarters and offices of the OSCE located?
- What is the role of the OSCE Secretariat?
- What is the goal of the office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media?
- How are the OSCE activities and institutions financed?
