The idea of a united Europe was once just a dream in the minds of philosophers and visionaries. Already in 1620, the Duke of Sully imagined "a body politics of all the States of Europe which could produce between its members an unalterable peace and a perpetual trade". In The 19th Century, Victor Hugo wrote: "One day will come where one will see these two immense groups, the United States of America and the United States of Europe, placed opposite one another, tightening the hand over the seas, exchanging their products, their trade, their industry". The dream was shattered by two terrible wars that ravaged the continent during the first half of the 20th century.
But the historical roots of the European Union lie in the Second World War. The idea of European integration was conceived to prevent such killing and destruction from ever happening again. Konrad Adenauer, Winston Churchill, Alcide de Gasperi and Robert Schuman, between 1945 and 1950, believed strongly in a new order in western Europe, based on the interests its peoples and nations shared together, and it would be founded upon treaties guaranteeing the rule of law and equality between all countries. That is why they set about persuading their peoples to enter a new era.
Thus, 1946, Winston Churchill, called it "the United States of Europe" and an Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) was created in 1948 in order to distribute the funds of the Marshall plan of American assistance for the rebuilding of Europe. The construction of the European Union was done according to the method of the "small steps". It consists of building Europe from the "bottom" thanks to the installation of a common management between several European countries, in limited strategic and increasingly sectors, in order to create a solidarity between these countries. This method is opposed to a construction by "the top" which would institute a European federation directly. This method is also called "Monnet-Schuman method".
[...] The development of trade between the Central and Eastern European countries and the European Union offered, since 1989, a lot of significant potentialities for the companies of these two economic zones. Since 1989, the movement has been accentuated. Indeed, exports of the UE towards the Central and Eastern European countries currently estimated at 20% of UE exports, have more than doubled since 1989. Moreover, more than of the Central and Eastern European countries' international trade is now made with the UE. [...]
[...] The European Round Table of Industrialists has predicted this will create more jobs in the EU 15. Indeed the European Union enlargement will generate profits for new comers, but also for current members. In fact, the Central and Eastern European countries have known, for several years already, a fast development. Their growth, higher than current members' growth, had a positive impact on EU 15 exports and attracted the foreign direct investments. Enlargement should amplify these phenomena. The French companies, with the third rank of the exporters and the investors towards this zone, already largely profited from the opening of these economies and their growth. [...]
[...] It is not about delocalization, it does not affect the French work market Consequences of the European enlargement on the labor market. A lot of French are afraid by the enlargement because they thin that it will breed delocalization. But, some legal, political and economical criteria refute it Legal and Political criteria. Provisional migratory flows on the labor market of the enlarged UE should remain limited. According to several studies, and notably by the one of the Robert Schuman Foundation, only nationals of the 10 new members could choose to settle for professional reasons in another Convention country that theirs. [...]
[...] Typically, FDI brings with it technology transfer, managerial and other skills (such as marketing and distribution, which are often lacking in the early years of post- communist transition), access to markets, an improvement of the work market Consequences on the work market The greatest number of fears resulting from the enlargement comes from the work market. In fact, citizens of western countries are afraid to lost their employment because of eastern workers. Those fears come from the newcomers' situation. They are in some cases evidenced but an efficient examination turns most of them down The newcomer's situation. [...]
[...] The notion of enlargement refers to the process by which new States adhere to the European Union (UE). Since 1957, there were five enlargements; in 1973 with Denmark, Ireland and United Kingdom, in 1981 with Greece, in 1986 with Spain and Portugal, in 1995 with Austria, Finland and Sweden and the most important in 2004 with Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia. The last enlargement is the more ambitious project of the European Union. [...]
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