The European Union

Walter, you are right, it is a great link, when fully installed.

I tried just one thing, and it was not ready yet. Let's be patient!

I read an article in a French magazine, a few months ago, that another country (somewhere near Turkey, but I can't remember which one) was getting ready to ask for membership to the EU if Turkey is OK'ed. I am not for neither against Turkey joining, since I don't live in Europe so it does not affect me directly, however one can certainly consider the effects of:

1) Turkey not joining - what would happen?
2) If Turkey joins - what other countries "like" Turkey will ask to join also.

After all, as the article said, Algeria, for example, was a French colony and was pretty much considered the "backyard" of France. How about Egypt?

My very personal idea has been and still is that this 'thing' is called the EUROPEAN Union. :wink:

Turkey will join - the only question is "when" (I don't suppose, this will happen within the next -perhaps- ten years!).

Ukraine is is working now to get closer - I suppose, they'll have to queue up behind Turkey.

The North African countries are already 'connected' by some treatries (one of the link should give a better answer :wink: ).

(UK Resident)
Hi Bram, you started by saying
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"Living in North America, I have not paid much attention to the European Union until, first, the advent of the euro, and secondly, the enlargement of the EU to 25 countries in May. "

I think that this illustrates one of the main reasons why the E.U. has adopted the Euro and has proceeded on its course of expansion.
Since the end of the "cold war" (and for several years before maybe) the USA has emerged as a single dominant power in the world, both financially, and militarily.
Its trading power dominates the world scene, the world currency is its Dollar, and there is no counterbalance anymore, as the USSR has disintegrated.
To say that you had "not paid much attention" to the E.U. probably echoes the views of most people around the world. But with the emergence of a trading block that equals the USA, and its own currency that is, at this moment in time, gaining rapid strength against the Dollar, the E.U. is finally fulfilling its original remit. People are now noticing, and it wont be long before the USA will have a formidable rival on the world stage, although I dont think that we will go down the "Military" route as much as they have, by any means.
There are areas for improvement however. The massive Bureaucratic waste that goes on is beyond belief, and needs cutting right back as soon as possible.
The CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) needs to be totally changed, as do other payment schemes, to ensure that each Country pays or receives money from the central "pot" according to their current wealth.
There is another massive problem, namely the mechanics of operating the Euro itself.
If a Country (Germany at the moment) is experiencing economic problems, it cannot raise or lower its interest rates to either stop consumer borrowing, attract outside investment, help small business, and generally do other things to kickstart its economic growth.
It is locked into the main Euro interest rate, so therefore has to find other ways to balance its books. In other words, it has lost the flexibility that it enjoyed before the advent of the Euro.
They will now have to turn to basic economics to eventually sort this out, but it may take a long time, and hard decisions on the part of the German Government (Pensions/public spending/benefit cutbacks etc). It doesnt have many other options.
As far as Turkey is concerned, they will have to prove to the E.U. that they have sorted out their human rights issues before any further negotiations take place.
In this present world climate, we will also have to consider security aspects. If Turkey (a Muslim Country) joins, its interior borders would be opened to the whole of western Europe.
Who is securing their EXTERIOR borders (with Syria for instance)? Answer....a Muslim country with its own fundamentalists ie Turkey.
I can see a lot of "invisibles" slipping into the E.U. via this backdoor, and can see repeats of the awful Madrid train bombings (or similar types of attack) happening in our major Cities.
I say NO at this moment in time....we should wait until this "problem" is sorted out, which may take a very long time.

Lord Ellpus

You raise a lot of issues that are very real, and that is one of the reasons I am so impressed by the EU. Just imagine what balancing acts it takes to coordinate all those countries that have different political, economic, taxation, social, religious, etc., systems, and you can have the biggest headaches for those EU bureaucrats, not to day the government of each EU country that has to comply with all the stringent EU requirements. I am totally, but totally fascinated by all this!!

I think it is a good thing, not only for the EU countries, but for the rest of the world, to have a stronger and bigger EU. Certainly, "free trading zones" help improve the economies of scale and exchange of goods and people, within the zone itself, but trade should be secondary to security issues and social peace (i.e. not lead to social upheavals). The EU has worked so hard in the past to achieve what they have achieved, and we would not want to see those efforts being wasted by the entrance of countries (whichever those countries may be) that would de-harmonize the union.

As for Turkey being Muslim, I think that that may not be such a big issue. I read an article in a French magazine that said that - surprise, surprise! - in France, there is a huge population who is Muslim (the 2nd ranking religion in France), so huge that the French were getting alarmed and worried. I think there are some other EU countries like that too (maybe Germany?).

As for the euro, one thing for sure is that it makes it easier for North Americans to exchange currencies if they want to visit Europe. But I can see the problems that you mentioned, and sympathize with the individual countries.

By the way, there is a nice link that "defines" what means Europe. Take a look, for fun.

http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Europe