Should the UK remain in the EU?
Uploaded by ginge06 on Feb 11, 2007
Extended Essay
Should the UK remain in the EU?
The European Union is an international organisation, which contains 27 member states and was founded in 1951. It has disproportional political and economic importance to it’s land mass (about 6% of the world) and it counts among it’s member states half of G8. The EU is both supranational and intergovernmental in its operation. It was established for economic benefits and to avoid another war (Europe had just endured a bloody period of conflict) however relatively recently its role has changed and it now deals with policy with would previously have been left to the member state’s own government. It is a common misconception that the European Union has ultimate power over member governments in all cases but this is not true; while some areas of policy are out of the hands of national governments, most are still dealt with internally.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (which is usually referred to as the United Kingdom or UK) is a state situated in North Western Europe (see map 1). It is made up of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and other territory around the world, for example Gibraltar. Its population is about sixty million people. The main language of the UK is English but Welsh is also a national language. Its government type is parliamentary constitutional monarchy which, simply put, means that the UK is a democracy with a sovereign who technically has supreme power but it is unlikely that it would ever be used. The UK has great international importance; both economic and political. The UK’s main moneymakers are services; for example banking.
The European Union, if good for nothing else, is a fascinating experiment in politics and it is completely unprecedented. The EU is, and always will be a topic of great debate. It is intergovernmental, it is supranational and it is certainly hard to understand.
There is much debate over the EU and the main topic of debate is should membership be retained. This debate is not limited to the UK and is a topic of political discussion throughout the member states. It is worth noting that the UK’s public are more anti-EU than most of the member states’. In this essay I will look at whether or not the UK should remain in the EU; to do this I will look at the history of the EU, the...