Contemporary European Society And Government Exam 3

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Marshall Plan

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This was a plan initiated by the United States in 1947 that pumped billions of dollars into West European countries in order to help them rebuild from the damage caused by World War II and to prevent the rise of communist party movements in West European countries.

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Council of Europe

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This is an organization of forty-six European states that was founded in 1948 and is separate of the European Union. It has the goal of fostering peace and stability in Europe and encouraging cooperation between European states. It also seeks to preserve Europe’s unique cultural heritage.

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European Coal and Steel Community

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This was a common market created for coal and steel in 1951 and included six West European nations: Belgium, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

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The Six

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This is the name given to the original six members of the European Coal and Steel Community: West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

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European Economic Community

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This is also known as the Common Market. It was created by the Rome Treaty of 1957 and created a common market among the original six European countries whereby no additional tariffs or taxes would be levied on their products as they shipped and sold them across the member states’ borders.

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NATO

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This stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It was a collective security arrangement created in 1949 that included the United States and most West European countries, and its purpose was to prevent Soviet expansion.

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Economic and Monetary Union

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This is the current policy of the European Union and a chief goal of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty. This policy maintains a single currency (the Euro) for member states of the European Union, and the policy is administered through the European Central Bank.

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Euroskeptics

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These are people who express pessimism about the European Union, especially the idea of stronger political union between the member states. Most of these people do not want to see a “United States of Europe.”

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Eurofederalists

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These are Europeans who want to see the European Union evolved in a tighter federal system similar to the United States. They envision a United States of Europe.

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European Council

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This is a body composed of the presidents and/or prime ministers of the European Union’s member states. Along with the President of the European Commission these people meet as this body up to four times a year. These summit meetings set overall European Union policy and resolve issues that could not be settled at the ministerial level, or in other words by the ministers who are members of the Council of the European Union.

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European Monetary System

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This is the First Pillar of the Maastricht Treaty, and its ultimate purpose was create a common European currency known as the Euro.

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Lisbon Treaty

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This 2007 treaty was agreed upon by the member states of the European Union in the wake of the failure to pass a European constitution in 2004. vIt created the president of the European Council (an EU body) who serves for a maximum of five years and replaces the rotating presidency that various European prime ministers and presidents held for six months at time before the treaty. It also allows the EU to join international organizations as a single legal entity as opposed to a confederation of independent states.

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Qualified Majority Voting

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This is a type of voting in the European Union in which a decision by the Council of Ministers must be voted on by a majority of the 55% of the member states, and they must represent 65% of the European population.

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Vote of Censure

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This is a power wielded by the European Parliament that allows it to dismiss the entire European Commission, which is another EU organ.

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Committee of the Regions

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This advisory body was established in 1994, and its members represent Europe’s authorities at the regional and local level. This body must be consulted by various European Union bodies before decisions are made on matters that have local and regional impact.

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Common Foreign and Security Policy

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This is the term used to describe the European Union’s common foreign and security policy, which it has developed and adhered to since the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty. It is the “Second Pillar” of the European Union.

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Constructive Abstention

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This is a European Union policy that allows member states to opt out of specific policies that are part of the European Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy.

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European Central Bank

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This institution is the central bank for the European Union. It was established in 1998 and is in Frankfurt, Germany. It is responsible for implementing the European Union’s monetary policy, which includes managing the Euro.

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Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

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This organization was founded in 1973, and its original purpose was the ease tensions between the Western Bloc countries led by the United States and the Communist Bloc nations led by the Soviet Union. Since the collapse of communism, it has served as a collective security organization that seeks to encourage peace between European nations.

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Transatlantic Declaration

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This was a formal declaration in 1990 by which the United States initiated a formal relationship with the European Union.

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Berlin Plus

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This was an agreement in 2003 between the European Union and NATO. This agreement grants the European Union access to NATO military assets when the EU is leading crisis management operations.

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Schengen Agreement

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This is an agreement between European Union member states that essentially makes them borderless. People who live in the signatory countries do not need passports or visas to travel to another signatory country. Foreigners who present a passport in one of these member countries can travel freely into the others without further visas or passport checks.

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European Free Trade Association

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This is a set of relationships that the European Union has established with European nations that have decided not to become members of the European Union. This includes Norway, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. These three nations are part of the European Economic Area (EEA), and they participate in the European Union’s internal market while not assuming the full responsibilities of membership.

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European Neighborhood Policy

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This policy was launched by the European Union in 2004.It seeks to establish good relations with European nations that are not European Union members. Under this policy, European nations that are not member states can have a close relationship with the European Union including a significant degree of economic integration and political contact.

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Civil Society

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This is a web of relations among citizens that exists independent of the state. This includes education institutions, religious organizations, and various economic, cultural, and social institutions.

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Convention on the Future of Europe

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This was a conference held in 2003 that involved the existing fifteen member states of the European Union and the ten new states about it enter. It was here that the 2004 constitution that called for closer political integration of the EU was proposed, but the constitution failed to have unanimous support among the member states.

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Protostate

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This is an entity that is not a fully sovereign state, but neither is it a mere international organization. This term is often used to describe the EU.

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Soft power

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This is a kind of power that a state wields through trade, aid diplomacy, and international law. It has been the principal kind of state power that European nations have wielded since World War II as opposed to hard power which largely is based on military power.

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Subsidies

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These are government benefits (usually in the form of cash or grants but also tax breaks) that governments give to farmers, corporations, and other economic producers. This makes it more difficult for other countries to compete in many cases.