‘Hi! We are Alice, Jello, Patricia, Motian and Janette from the Robert Jungk High School in Berlin, a comprehensive school with German–Polish classes on Europe. You will see us again in this magazine as we provide some important tips, interesting exercises, little quizzes and ideas for discussion. You will see, learning can also be fun!’
‘Europe is somewhere else’. This statement is of course nonsense because, as EU citizens, Europe is our home. So we are right in the middle of it. Nevertheless, many people feel that Europe is a long way away, and this applies especially to the European Union, the grouping of European nations that want to build a future together. The aim of this chapter is to become a bit more familiar with the European Union. You will soon see: Europe — that is us.
We hear about the European Union every day on the news or read about it in the newspapers. However, many people are not interested in the EU. Why do you think this is?
The EU is not important to our lives.
The EU is much too complicated. The media don’t report enough about the EU.
All the important issues are decided in the Member States rather than Brussels or Strasbourg, so it is enough to get involved with national politics.
Politics is generally boring.
My level of interest in the European Union is:
very high,
fairly high,
moderate,
low,
very low,
non-existent,
because
______________________
How many countries belong to the European Union?
12
15
25
28
30
How are Members of the European Parliament elected?
They aren’t. They are appointed by each country’s Head of State at the suggestion of the Head of Government.
In the parliamentary elections in each Member State, because Members of the European Parliament are also members of their national parliaments.
They are delegated to the European Parliament by each of the national parliaments.
In general elections with secret ballots, just like the Members of Parliament in their own countries.
How many of the EU Member States use the euro as their common currency?
All EU Member States.
The six founding countries.
Thirteen countries.
Seventeen countries.
In 2013 the EU is spending about €133 billion. What percentage of the EU countries’ economic output — their gross domestic product (GDP) — do you think this represents?
80.9 %.
50.2 %.
15.3 %.
0.99 %.
The Court of Justice of the European Union upholds European law. Where is the Court based?
In Lisbon.
In Brussels.
In Strasbourg.
In Luxembourg.
| Our lives | Relevance of the EU | I think this is … |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| very important | important | not important | ||
Trade within Europe is expanding all the time. And it’s not only the big corporations that are benefiting but also small and medium-sized enterprises. This all helps to safeguard |
The creation of the European single market of 500 million people increased trade between the EU countries from €800 billion in 1992 to €2 540 billion in 2010. |
O |
O |
O |
The EU has liberalised the telecommunications market which means that national monopolies have been broken up and competition permitted. The EU intervenes directly where there is insufficient competition. For example, mobile calls abroad have become cheaper as a result of action by the European Parliament and the European Commission |
O |
O |
O |
|
Here also the EU has abolished national monopolies and has permitted competition. Now you can choose to fly from Hungary to France with a British airline. Passenger rights have also been strengthened. If you are left stranded at the airport because your plane was overbooked or you miss an appointment because it was seriously delayed, you can now get compensation for this. |
O |
O |
O |
|
So-called ‘ |
The EU has blocked such deals across Europe. Now, everyone gets the time to change their mind — even if they have already signed up. |
O |
O |
O |
The |
European regulations have created uniform time limits. The guarantee applies right across Europe. It also doesn’t matter which EU country the customer bought the product in. |
O |
O |
O |
The EU has introduced compulsory, Europewide quality standards for the air we breathe, and Member States must make sure that these standards are upheld. |
O |
O |
O |
|
For 10 years there have been EU quality standards for drinking water which all Member States must comply with. |
O |
O |
O |
|
The ‘Schengen Agreement’ has made border controls between its member countries unnecessary. This means, for example, that you can travel from the North Cape of Norway to Sicily without a single border control. Only the United Kingdom and Ireland are exempt. Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania are also not yet members of the Schengen area. |
O |
O |
O |
|
EU citizens are just as able to work in another European country as they are in their own country. Anyone can decide |
The EU has created freedom of movement within its internal market. Someone from Vienna can work in Brussels or Rome, London or Warsaw, just as easily as in Linz or Innsbruck. |
O |
O |
O |
Unfortunately, you can fall |
EU countries make their health insurance cover available to each other. You simply need to present your ‘European Health Insurance Card’ or an equivalent form, and you can concentrate on getting better instead of grappling with bureaucracy in a language you may not even speak. |
O |
O |
O |
Mark each other’s papers and discuss the results.
Think of your daily life and your family. Where does the EU come into it?
Think of some examples. Think about food and money, school and study, travel, shopping and working.
Alice: ‘Altogether around 2.5 million students and 300 000 trainees spent one or two terms in another EU country between 1987 and 2012 as part of the Erasmus programme. In 28 EU Member States and five other countries there are over 3 000 universities and colleges that have participated in this academic cooperation.’
Freedom of movement benefits not only workers but also tourists, pensioners, students and trainees.
For students, this mobility is promoted by the EU’s ‘Erasmus’ programme. This provides students with the financial and organisational support for a spell abroad at a European partner university. There is a European points system to ensure that grades earned abroad are credited to their studies at home, so that spending a term abroad is not ‘lost’.
For vocational trainees too, there is a special EU programme called ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ which provides money and organisational support for a work placement away from home. Some 75 000 young EU citizens take advantage of this every year to complete part of their training in another country. The programme works in partnership with companies and institutions which subsequently advertise projects for which young people can apply (trainees and young employees, but also young unemployed people).
At the start, it might take quite an effort to get involved in a project like this in another country. But the experience that young people gain from it fully makes up for it.
Make a list of ‘for and against’ arguments.
Which side wins?
Arguments for a period of study abroad
________________
________________
________________
________________
Arguments against a period of study abroad
________________
________________
________________
________________
Now compare your results and discuss them.
Do you recognise the symbols and objects shown? Where can you find them?
Think about what they have to do with Europe and our lives.
We started by asking why Europe seems so remote to many people. Different people may have different reasons.
But when we look more closely, we find that Europe, or rather the European Union, is actually all around us. It affects our lives in many areas.
Starting with money: the euro is a common currency; not all countries have adopted it, but more than half of them have. When we go on holiday to Austria, France or Spain, for example, we can pay for things in this common currency. And even in countries where the euro is not used, it is nevertheless accepted as a strong global currency. With the euro we are welcome all over the world.
Many people are so used to being able to travel anywhere in Europe that they hardly notice it. But not so long ago things were different. Then there were passport controls and queues at the border and the customs officers wanted to know exactly what purchases you were bringing back with you.
Flying has become much cheaper. That is also down to the EU, which has abolished national monopolies. This means that there is no longer a national airline for each country, having a monopoly on certain routes and charging high prices. These days, every airline within the EU can fly wherever it wants. So, for example, you can now book a flight from Denmark to Spain with an Irish airline.
The fact that flying in the EU is safe is also due to common safety standards laid down by the EU for all Member States, which do not allow companies operating in conditions below essential safety levels to enter into European airspace.
Many of these regulations have come about thanks to the ‘internal market’. If you want to have a single market in which people can buy and produce things how and where they want, there have to be common rules.
The police forces in the EU also work closely together, and an EU body, Europol, coordinates the data. They are not supercops, charging around Europe with guns blazing, but national police officers who compile information on crime and criminals and make it available to police forces throughout the EU. This is always about serious crime. Europol is not concerned with illegal parking. It is concerned with human traffickers and drug smugglers, counterfeiters and sex offenders, stolen car dealers and Internet fraudsters, who are happy to exploit the open borders for their unscrupulous activities.
Environmental pollution does not stop at frontier signs. That is why the threat to our environment can only be tackled collectively. This affects us directly, because we all breathe, we drink and consume water, and we eat the crops that grow in the fields. European environmental protection lays down common standards to ensure that one EU country cannot gain economic advantage over another by ignoring environmental rules and so producing cheaper goods. The requirement for fairness in the European single market safeguards jobs because it prevents unfair competition.
Many people refuse to eat genetically modified foodstuffs. But how can we know whether our cornflakes are made from genetically modified maize? The EU has forced all food manufacturers to label their products. If they contain GM ingredients, they must say so.
We could go on. But it is already obvious by now: Europe — that is all of us. And Europe affects us all.