How Western Europe is Divided in the Context of the European Union essays

How Western Europe is Divided in the Context of the European Union essays The way in which government and politics operate in West European politics say a lot about the future of the nation. Most Western European systems are classified as parliamentary because of the fusion of powers between the executive and legislature. Most are also advanced industrial democracies, confronting the same fundamental issues of democracy that concern American The European Union (EU), which was drafted in 1984, concentrated on goals relating to political unification for Europe (Norton, 2002). The EU called for a federal-type Western European government, with a two-house legislature. When examining the effects of the EU on Western European politics, it is important to look at the roots of its existence. The beginning of the EU's existence was actually the creation of the Organization for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) in 1948. The OEEC was created to advance the re-building of war-torn Europe and to help distribute American financial aid (Marshall Aid) for Western Europe. In 1951, France and Germany created the European Coal (ECSC), which merged the coal and steel industries of the two countries (Norton, 2002). In 1957, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg signed the Treaty of Rome, merging the OEEC and the ECSC into one economic and common marketthe European Economic Community (EEC). In 1973, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark joined the EEC. Greece followed suit in 1981 and Portugal and Spain in 1986. In 1992, the EEC became the European Union (EU). In 1995, Austria, Finland and Sweden joined. The Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Malta and Cyprus plan to join in 2004. In the early 1990s, the EU started working on a Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and a Common European Security and Defence Policy (CESDP) (Norton, 2002). In 1993, the EU com...