European Union
The European Union (EU) is a political and monetary organization of European nations. Its members as of 2002 were Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. While member states retain their national governments, the EU promulgates transnational laws and treaties, has a unified agricultural policy, and has removed trade barriers between members. The EU uses a common currency, the euro. The EU represents about a quarter of the global economy, roughly equal to that of the United States.
The European Union developed gradually in the years after World War II. It began in 1957 as the European Economic Community, or EEC, which originally included France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The EEC was superceded by the European Community, or EC, in 1967. The principal aim of the EC was to foster free trade among member countries, eliminating tariffs and customs barriers. The EC expanded its role in the 1970s and 1980s. As more states joined, the EC began to strengthen political cooperation among members, holding meetings to coordinate foreign policy and international law. By the mid-1980s, plans were underway to transform the EC into a single European market. This single market would have a central banking system, a transnational currency, and a unified foreign policy. These goals were articulated in the Single European Act of 1987, which also for the first time set out environmental protection as an important goal of European economic development. A treaty written in 1991, called the Maastricht Treaty or the Treaty on European Union, spelled out the future shape of the European Union. All the member states had ratified the treaty by November, 1993, when the European Union officially superceded the EC. The EU went on to launch a new currency, the euro, in 1999. In January 2002 the euro replaced existing EU member currencies.
The EU had incorporated environmental policy into its economic plans beginning in 1987. New members were required to conform to certain environmental standards. And the EU was able to make regional environmental policy, which often made more sense than national laws for problems like air and water pollution that extended across national borders. Environmental regulation in the EU was generally stricter than in the United States, though member states did not always comply with the law. The EU was often quicker than the United States on implementing environmental strategy, such as rules for computer and cell phone disposal. The EU approved the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement to reduce the production of socalled greenhouse gases in order to arrest global warming. As details of the implementation of the plan were being worked out over the next five years, EU negotiators remained committed to curtailing European gas emissions even after it became clear that the United States would not sign the Kyoto treaty. Sweden took over the rotating presidency of the EU in 2002, and planned to make environmental policy a high priority. "The environment is more global than anything else except foreign policy," Sweden's environmental minister and EU spokesman told Harper's Bazaar (March 2001). With the EU representing 25% of the global economy, the organization's stance on environmental issues was always significant.
Resources
Periodicals
Andrews, Edmund L. "Bush Angers Europe by Eroding Pact on Warming"-New York Times, April 1, 2001, 3.
Milmo, Sean. "EU Lacks Industry Support for EU-Wide Emissions Trading System." Chemical Market Reporter 260, no. 5 (July 30, 2001): 6.
Sains, Ariane. "EU News: Sweden's EU Agenda." Harper's Bazaar 134, no. 3472 (March 2001): 287.
Scott, Alex. "EU Mulls Criminal Sanctions for Eco-Crimes." Chemical Week 164, no. 16 (April 17, 2002): 15.
"What Next, Then?" Economist 360, no. 8232 (July 28, 2001): 69.
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