| A | B |
|---|
| Europe was devastated by WWI, WWII, the Holocaust and the Cold War | These events continue to haunt and shape Europe’s global outlook |
| Focus on multilateral solutions | NATO; United Nations; Kyoto Treaty; ICC |
| Humane Capitalism | stronger socialist influence on economy |
| 1957 | 6 Nations (Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg) form the European Economic Community |
| Nov. 9th 1989 | the Berlin Wall is breached |
| October, 1990 | West and East Germany are unified |
| 1992 | The Maastricht Treaty is signed creating the European Union |
| 1998 | European Central Bank is created |
| 2002 | Euro currency is introduced (no Britain) |
| 2004 | EU expands by ten nations in Eastern Europe (former communist) to 25 members |
| 2005 | Voters in France and the Netherlands reject the EU Constitution; big blow to “ever closer union” |
| 2005 | Turkey begins negotiations to join the EU; several nations oppose their entry |
| 2007 | Romania, Bulgaria join EU |
| 2010 | Euro crisis over Greek and Irish debt |
| The Council of Ministers | the most powerful): the “Congress” of Europe; meets in Brussels; representatives of all EU nations vote and create EU legislation |
| The European Commission | the engine of integration; the “Eurocrats”): the other “Congress” of Europe; dominated by the Big 5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Britain) each having two commissioners and other nations one; works on executive AND legislative issues (implementation and regulation) |
| The European Court of Justice | each nation sends a judge for renewable six year terms; hears cases dealing with EU law and policy |
| The European Parliament | (most democratic and weakest): the 3rd “Congress”; meets in Brussels and Strasburg; MEPs are elected directly by the people of the EU nations |
| 1991: Europe and NATO participated heavily in the first Gulf War | particularly Great Britain and France |
| failed to prevent the escalating conflict in the Balkans over the devolution of Yugoslavia | The Dutch received harsh criticism for their failure to stop a mass killing by Serbs vs. Bosnians in Srebrenica |
| 1999 | NATO (w/German troops for the first time) begins an air war vs. Serbia over Kosovo) |
| 1999 and 2002 | NATO expands to include former Warsaw Pact nations |
| March 2004 | Madrid terror bombings |
| June 2005 | London terror bombings |
| Europe is seeing a huge influx of people from | North Africa, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the former USSR |
| ½ mil | Illegal |
| ¾ mil | Legal |
| rise to increasing numbers of | nationalist, right-wing conservative political parties |
| Netherlands | List Pim Fortuyn |
| Austria | Jorg Heider’s Freedom Party |
| Jean-Marie Le Pen (France) | won 17% of the vote |
| Many European nations are having difficulty integrating new immigrants (especially Muslims) into their society | witness the riots in France in 2005 |
| The Welfare State: Will it survive | Europe leads the world in the generosity of its social welfare system; but these state sponsored programs are very costly and tax burdens are high |
| Generally the policies work like this | Provision of social services and transfer payments |
| Generally the policies work like this | Management of a capitalist economic system for optimal growth while minimizing unemployment |
| Help regulate behavior of individuals, businesses and groups to help reduce the cost of welfare programs by restricting need for them | Generally the policies work like this |
| The ultimate aim is two fold | a decent standard of living is provided to those worst off in the society |
| increase the equality of socioeconomic groups without undercutting capitalism too much | The ultimate aim is two fold |
| The Problem | not enough new jobs created; not enough new workers; too few paying too much for too many |
| Enlargement: How large should Europe be | As the EU has grown larger, in continues to move eastward; but how far to go? Russia? Ukraine? |
| Germany and Britain have favored enlargement; France and Italy have reservations | all but Britain are nervous about Turkey |
| Free movement of labor | Western Europe fears workers from Eastern Europe taking jobs |
| Farm Subsidies | Eastern farmers want them, but West does not want to give them as much as their farmers |
| Defense | Eastern nations supported USA more in Iraq invasion; USA is moving bases to Eastern Europe from Germany |
