Abstract
With the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty in December 2009, the ‘European Union begins 2010 with a new look', according to VOA News. The European Union has strengthened its institutions, with a new ‘president of the European Union'; Herman Von Rompuy and a new High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton. Moreover, we got ‘the extensions of the availability of QMV in the Council, the strengthening of the powers of the EP […] and the consolidation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.' The Lisbon Strategy that accompanied the Treaty is based on three pillars: the economic pillar, the social pillar and the environmental pillar.
However, a majority of European citizens see the EU as a threat (in matters of employment, economy etc) or as an unnecessary organization, and the low turnouts at the EP elections and the rejection of the Constitutional Treaty by France and the Netherlands in 2005 highlight this fact. But according to Dominique Robert, the European Parliament spokesman, 'there are a lot of issues which would not exist in a positive way if Europe did not exist.'
In a way, asking the question ‘To what extent is there a real need for the European Union in 2010' boils down to asking in which way there is a real need for deepening European integration in 2010. On the one hand, the European Union will be required for backing the three pillars of the Lisbon Strategy but on the other hand, we can assume that the European Integration has to improve in some areas if we want the EU to be necessary.
Extract
[...] BIBLIOGRAPHY - Books Lenschow, A. (2004) 'Environmental policy at a crossroads?' in Maria Green Cowles and Desmond Dinan, Developments in the European Union 2 (London: Palgrave) Nugent, N. (2010) The government and politics of the European Union, 7th edition. Palgrave McMillan) Cini, M. (2010) The European Union Politics, 3rd edition. (Oxford: Oxford University Press) - Journals Follesdal A. & Hix S. (2005) 'Why there is a democratic deficit in the EU' in European Governance Papers, (Eurogov) n° C-05-02. [...]
[...] The European Union far from being necessary. A. The mistrust from the European civil society and the democratic deficit. Indeed, the low turnouts for the last European elections in 2009, ( compared to 61% en 1984) such as the reject of the Constitutional Treaty in 2005 from part of France and Netherlands citizens, highlight the fact that the European Union is not considered necessary by a majority of EU citizens. There is a European citizenship but most of the citizens don't even know it exists, believing that the EU can only provide an economic union rather than a social one. [...]
[...] The need for building a European social model. According to Arnaud LeChevallier, 'The crisis offers the historic opportunity to question and to renew the economic and social European model that the 27 countries of the EU want to promote while the last opinion polls show that the EU has became a source of worries for the most disadvantaged citizens,'14 specially about employment (e.g: Bolkenstein directive and social dumping). 'The European Union is one of the richest areas in the world. [...]
[...] Indeed, according to Jean-Louis Quermonne, professor of political science and specialist of the EU: 'The real question for the European Union is to know what's its position in the dialogue with the two others surviving powers, the United States and Russia, and the emerging powers like China, India, Brazil and maybe South Africa and Mexico.'27 And this is precisely in front of United States and China that the EU surrendered its requirements concerning environment at the Copenhagen summit in 2009. However, the two new posts created by the Lisbon Treaty, (the president of the European Union and the new High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy) are made to give EU a real leadership, with the embodiment of the political power. C. The EU's energy dependency. [...]
[...] Mair P. (2007) 'Political Opposition and the European Union' in Government and Opposition, Vol N°1. Della Porta D. (2008), 'The Emergence of European movements ? Civil Society and the EU' in European Journal of Legal Studies, Vol.1, N°3. 'L'Europe'. (2009) Alternatives économiques, Hors série N°81. WEBSITES: Bryant, L. [...]
