Questions about the European Union?

The European Union is a unique economic and political partnership between 27 democratic European countries.

The EU is not perfect — it constantly has to be improved.

Frontier-free travel and trade, the euro (the single European currency), safer food and a greener environment, better living standards in poorer regions, joint action on crime and terror, cheaper phone calls and air travel, millions of opportunities to study abroad … and much more besides

Yes, the benefit of all these european countries acting as a "union" is that they're trading power is substantially higher then that of a single country within the union.

For example, if you buy 1 laptop from China, they will give it to you for $600. If you buy 100 laptops from my China, then they will give it to you for $300. The European together, has a larger demand for supply, thus they get better prices.

Being part of a "union" means you have a much larger demand for supply - meaning imports become substantially cheaper to buy, the very basics of trading.

There is only one way for the EU, and that's expansion.

I agree with many who say, the "European Dream" is quickly eclipsing the out-dated "american dream".

Europe will inevitably become, the central powerhouse of the world over the next century.

The EU was essentially formed to remove the boundaries that hindered the economic development of the member states, this was done through various measures such as the removal of trade barriers such as import and export tarrifs, standardisation of measures, common laws and governing bodies, free migration and lastly the implementation of the single currency (euro).

What you need to remember is that the EU is actually a number of different countries that are working for themselves and trying to get economic growth and improve their own conditions - the EU is a way to help them try and get that.

So what does it do? It does what all countries do, it trades with other countries (trade can be in goods or services) the idea being that with the removal of tarrifs and the fluctuation of different currencies, it is cheaper and therefore the member states will be more competitive and make more money. The EU also opens Europe up into a bigger market so that there is less need to export to far and foreign lands. The bigger market also helps countries to improve their economies of scale and make their products cheaper.

The downside is that the states have to follow EU rules. These rules aren't necessarily good to every country. They try to incorporate everyone but as we know, one mans good is another mans bad and so this can sometimes be opposite to what the country needs. For example, if a country needs to lower unemployment then it may be necessary to lower interest rates to stimulate spending and entice businesses to borrow, however the EU MPC may choose to raise interest rates because inflation is rising in the majority of the member states.

There are a number of countries want to join the EU but have to meet strict criteria so you can say that it is getting bigger and will continue to grow.

Hope this helps.

Depends what part.

The UK famously is very cautious of allowing EU power to expand, but even here, they do exert a lot of power.

The laws they create are above the laws created by the UK we sometimes ignore them :)

The EU also creates immigration policy and works to erode any differences in culture between members.

It is also on a mission to end democracy.

In terms on money it has a lot of power over members of the Euro currency, but it still has influence on UK finacnce, for example the UK was unable to lower Value Added Tax below 15% becasue of EU law.

In short the EU is a lot more than trade, altho this is all that it has a mandate for.

what makes the euro worth more than the dollar? does the EU have a national bank? all very good questions....i have always wondered how the eu influences monetary policy

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2950276.st...