Suchergebnisse

A Europe of States versus a Federal Europe, by Robert Toulemon
The Convention on the future of the European Union will try to establish a broad coalition of support for its proposals to have the best chance of them being accepted by the 2004 intergovernmental conférence. Rather than coming up with a compromise that would maintain the present division of the EU between the community pillars and the intergovernmental pillars, it would be desirable if the members of the convention were to synthesise the two approaches, which should complement, not compete with, each other. It is necessary to balance the attachment of each state to its sovereignty, a désire to be directly linked to the definition and putting in place of the EU's policies, on the one hand, with the need to abolish the veto in an enlarged Europe, to bring Europe closer to its citizens, and to assure internal and external openness, on the other. By progressively enlarging the areas of competence or the EU through a well-adapted and flexible process, especially taking into account the diversity of expectations and the capabilities of present and future members, it might be possible to corne up with a satisfactory proposal.

Events in Europe in the year to mid-2012 were dominated by economic and financial problems that threatened to break apart the euro, the common currency used by 17 European nations; the potential disintegration of the currency was generally agreed to spell disaster on a global scale. The risk of a partial or total breakup grew during the year as governments failed to achieve consensus on big, bold solutions and continued to muddle through. The effect of the financial crisis was evident across Europe not only in poor or negative economic growth rates but in the fact that, by mid-2012, ten of the 17 eurozone countries had changed their governments. Adapted from the source document.