EUROPE AND THE EUROPEAN UNION.

Europe is formed by 47 states, diversity is necessarily one of its greatest aspects, if not the most, one of the richest regions of the world. 7 of its countries are the richest in the world: Luxembourg, Norway, Ireland, Andorra, Iceland, Denmark, and Austria.

Other of the region's most amazing elements was the foundation of the European Union, and here is a little history o how it began.



1951: The European Coal and Steel Community is established by the six founding members(Belgium, France, Germany, Italy,Luxembourg, and The Netherlands).
1957: The Treaty of Rome establishes a common market.
1973: The Community expands to nine member states and develops its common policies.
1979: The first direct elections to the European Parliament.
1981: The first Mediterranean enlargement.
1993: Completion of the single market.
1993: The Treaty of Maastricht establishes the European Union.
1995: The EU expands to 15 members.
2002: Euro notes and coins are introduced.
2004: Ten more countries join the Union.

"In economic, trade and monetary terms, the European Union has become a major world power. However, some have described the EU as an economic giant but a political dwarf. This is an exaggeration. It has considerable influence within international organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the specialized bodies of the United Nations (UN), and at world summits on the environment and development.
Nevertheless, it is true that the EU and its members have a long way to go, in diplomatic and political terms, before they can speak with one voice on major world issues like peace and stability, relations with the United States, terrorism, the Middle East and the role of the UN Security Council. What is more, the cornerstone of national sovereignty, namely military defence systems, remain in the hands of national governments, whose ties are those forged within alliances such as NATO".

"European integration will continue in the fields in which the member states consider it is in their best interests to work together within the traditional EU framework (on issues like trade, globalization, the single market, regional and social development, research and development, measures to promote growth and jobs and many others.)
The institutional process of updating the rules governing the relations between the member countries and the EU and between the EU and its citizens has recently come to an end. A new treaty, the Lisbon Treaty, has been signed by the EU leaders. If ratified by all member states, it is expected to provide the Union with the legal framework and tools necessary to meet future challenges and citizens’ demands".

According to cultural diversity "Europe is proud of its cultural diversity. Language, literature, theatre, visual arts, architecture, crafts, the cinema and broadcasting may belong to a specific country or region, but they represent part of Europe’s common cultural heritage. The European Union aims to preserve and support this diversity and to help make it accessible to others".

Taken from http://europa.eu/index_en.htm


There is a current discussion around the existence of the co-determinism principle in Germany. Select, define and explain 3 arguments in favor and 3 against such principle.

Co-Determination refers to the voice of the workers, is the rights of the workers because workers are really important to organizations.

Co-Determinism is the right to participate in decision making of the organization within the enterprise whereby employees and their representatives exert influence on decisions, often at a senior level and at a relatively early stage of formulation.

• It operates as a complement
• Stakeholders
• It was born in Germany (is not the only country who shows co-determinism, also Austria and Denmark).

The Co-determination principle was born on 1950´s on the steel and coal industry. And by 1976 became a national law.

The co-determinism principle highly motivates the employees, they feel important and they integrate the entire company, the employees with the supervisors and the board of management (the entire company). With this motivation workers can work better and have much more results, they are willing to protect their rights and their interests. As the employees feel motivated, they are also willing to provide innovation to the company in order to the company success. They could make improve the quality of the supervisory board, by giving advices and because they have a voice they work as if the company were theirs. If all the employees are integrated to the company and feel as part of it it also can lead to a minimization of conflicts.

Some think that co-determination is an old and bureaucratic system, as they employees have more participation in the company it gives more flexibility, it is also very difficult to foreign companies to understand the principle and by then understand the system, this will reduce the investment on the region.

Co-determination is seen as a form of worker participation.

Information taken from the class presentation.

This link will provide more information about co-determination:
http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/emire/GERMANY/CODETERMINATION-DE.htm