A Brief Note On The United Kingdom And The European Kingdom

The EU was created after the Second World War to unite the neighboring countries of Europe. It was established by six European countries in 1951: France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Netherlands and West Germany (Briney, 2015). Today it consists of 28 countries united to create an economic and political community (Gov.uk, 2014).

Throughout the history of European integration, the major UK parties have debated on all different aspects of Europe and the impacts of membership on Britain itself. From both these debates and party policies, it is clear to see that whilst there is generally a consensus over Europe, some issues have been a cause of disagreement among the major parties. In this essay I will analyse the policies and actions of the major UK parties that concern the EU and be able to conclude to what extent they agree over Europe.

The United Kingdom initially joined the European Union in 1973 for economic reasons hoping to promote trade and form relationships with other states in the Union. In 1975 the UK held its first national referendum on withdrawal from the European Economic Community. According to the poll,” 67 % of Britons voted to stay in the EEC and 32 % voted to leave the union” (GYE). Because of this result the UK stayed in the EU in 1975. Over the past 40 years the European Union has been through a lot of change, many more countries have joined the organization and the EU has extended its control over more aspects of daily lives. These changes have sparked a lot of controversy coming from both the UK public and

The UK joined the European Economic Community in 1973. When the EU was formed in 1993, the European Economic Community was renamed the European Community and added into the EU’s systems. There was never a formal vote on whether or not the UK should join the EU, but any sort of polling having to do with it yielded support for the movement.

This article explains the “on-going” argument of whether or not Britain should remain in the European Union or leave. Prime Minister David Cameron vowed to keep Britain apart, winning the backing of most of most of his Cabinet and the goal of rival parties. Cameron has made it clear Britain is safer and stronger in the EU. However, much of Britain believes in opposition to their membership among the the European Union, leaving this as a constant

Whether UK should leave or stay with EU has recently become one of the most widely debated subjects and British citizens will soon have to decide their future in the EU as Prime Minister David Cameron has promised a referendum on ‘leave or stay’ question to the British people by 2017. This came at the time of Eurozone crisis when most of EU citizens including British are losing faith in EU, making the distance between EU institutions and EU citizens ever greatest. The reason for British people’s resentment is the lack of democracy: EU dictatorship, too many unnecessary laws and regulations to follow. Of course, there are Brexiteers who call for the UK to quit in order to regain national sovereignty and to be more democratic than they are now and those who want to stay. The essay to expresses disagreement to the statement that UK would be more democratic if it votes to leave EU.

The recent UK referendum sent shockwaves throughout the West and the wider world; few people had predicted that the British people would vote to leave the EU. So what led Brits to say a firm 'no thank you' to continued membership of the European Union? A look at surveys, statistics and anecdotal evidence may help us to solve this puzzle.

A big reason for choosing this particular topic was the fact that this is such a topical, well-covered and much discussed issue within the UK right now. This is mainly due to the fact that as part of Conservative leader David Cameron’s manifesto in his electoral campaign in 2015, he had promised to carry out a the much desired referendum on whether the UK should remain within the EU or not (should the Tories be voted into power).

The party support UK leave the EU can be seen as Eurosceptics. The reason for this view can be analysed in different four aspects, politics, trade, immigration, and history. In the political dimension, UK and the EU countries have obvious difference on the issue of sovereignty (Biskup, 2003). Britain emphasis on the sovereignty of parliament is inalienable. But the EU countries claim that sovereignty not only focus on country completely, but also on the multiple levels, such as region, nation, or Europe.

Britain’s vote to exit from the European Union, termed as “Brexit”, took the world by surprise as polls during the campaigns have shown that 80% of voters will vote to remain in the EU (Erlanger 2016). The Brexit was led by Justice Minister Michael Gove and former Mayor of London Borris Johnson. The main issues were in regards to the nation’s sovereignty and immigration. Proponents believed that the EU had changed its bureaucracy in the past few decades which diminished British sovereignty and influence. Brexit was also favorable to other nation’s parties who were anti Europe , for instance, the French National Front leader, Marine Le Pen (Erlanger, 2016). Opponents of Brexit argued to stay within the EU as it would allow countries of similar minds to have a stronger influence in the world and warned that it would be economically devastating if voters decided

1955 saw the start of the Western European Union and talks began at Messina about a European Economic Community, the EEC. Britain maintained a strong opinion when referring to Europe and the EEC. This being scepticism, Britain didn’t take these plans very seriously. Such feelings were clearly displayed, when Britain didn’t even send an Ambassador to the Messina Conference. Instead, in keeping with their, thus far sceptical approach, only an observer was sent on the British behalf, rather than Foreign Sectary of State Harold MacMillan. Britain’s feelings hadn’t changed by 1957 when the Treaty of Rome, which created the EEC, which was signed by the six. Italy, France, Western Germany and the Benelux countries, but not by Britain.

The European Community was set up by the EEC Treatyin 1957, and the UK joined the Community in 1973.

Over the last 30 years Britain has consistently supported the enlargement of the European Union (EU). Both the former Conservative, and the current Labour governments have always presented favourable rhetoric for the ‘widening’ of the EU. This apparent consensus on European policy belies the fractious nature of opinions in Britain over the future of Europe. The rough undercurrents of Britain’s contingent support for the intergovernmental vision of the EU reflects just how complex and protracted the political discourse on Europe has become.

The roots of the European Union can be traced back to the early 1950’s when a small number of countries made a decision to join together as a way to resolve any potential conflict nurture economic growth and common values across the continent. There was a desire to promote common values and membership was opened to all European countries. Since the inception the number of members has grown from a founding six countries to what we now know as the modern day EU with a current total of 28 countries with a further 8 countries under application review. In 1992, what was then a group of twelve countries, joined together to form the Customs Community Code which was eventually introduced in January 1993. The code effectively merged the individual customs regulations in to a single customs union.

The start of Europe going towards a union had begun after World War II. The French gave an invitation to European countries served as the basis of a European Union. 9 countries have accepted the invitation: Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and The Netherlands. Then it expanded and increased by accepting European countries that want to join; Denmark, Ireland and the U.K. in 1973, Greece in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986, and Austria, Fenland and Sweden in 1995. Now it has 28 countries.