A fully integrated European Union could be seen to have two possible outcomes. Either a)A Federalist or 'stewed' union, where all member states give up their individual sovereignty and form a superstate that would be an economic world power, or b)A Confederalist or 'salad bar' union, where each member state has its own place in a continental alliance, maintaining national sovereignty and individually contributing, through trade and cooperation, to form a greater whole. Sovereignty can be defined quite simply as the supreme authority to not only declare law but create it, deriving this power from a populace who have given up their personal sovereignty and power and vested it in the sovereign.
Europeans have long disagreed as to which states and poples should properly be included in Europe. There have been long debates as to how far countries such as Russia, Turkey, Albania, Georgia, Armenia, Israel or Morocco should be included in Europe, politically, militarily, culturally or economically. The factor that must always be borne in mind in any consideration of Europe is that definitions of Europe and the configurations of European states are fluids rather than solids. They are constantly changing.The idea of nation and of European order based upon sovereign nation-states is of relatively recent origin and is likely to be as ephemeral or short-lived as all previous European state configurations. It is on the eternal fluidity of European states systems, rather than on any deterministic belief in a teleogical progression towards a preordained "federal goal", that federalists should rest their hopes for a federal Europe in the twenty-first century.
The EU has stated explicitly that its objectives are "to lay the foundations of an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe the constant improvement of the living and working conditions of the people, and the reduction of differences in wealth between regions".
The whole purpose behind the European Union is to maintain peace between the European countries, and to integrate them. The founding gentlemen of the EMS wanted to restore the integration of the European Communities. In 1949, the Council of Europe was founder to promote political and social unity in Europe. Later in 1952, the European Coal and Steel Community was started to "allay fears of a 'military-industrial complex' fuelling renascent German nationalism". Economic integration and unity was brought to a head in March of 1957 when the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community were formed. These two treaties were used to help stabilize and form the ECU. All three of these organizations/treaties were essential to forming what is today called the European Union. The European Union/European Monetary System failed for three basic reasons in the early 1990's. First of all, it failed because it was inefficient due to the low-inflation system and the recession in that time period. The recession elaborated on the conflicts between the member countries of the European Union. Second, it is not sufficiently competitive at the current rate of exchange. Third, the real interest rate of the world would need to decline drastically in order for the EU to work. Also in the early 1990's there were "smaller expectations of devaluations". The current European Union has been a result of recent treaties. The first treaty that was signed in February 1992 helped the unification of Europe be that much closer. It set the groundwork for one currency throughout Europe called the euro. In order to update the current treaties the Amsterdam Treaty was signed as a result of the Intergovernmental Conference. This treaty resulted in a plan to listen to the citizens, get closer to a more secure Europe, to make Europe more vocal throughout the world, and to make the European Union more efficient. As of January of 1997 there were 15 countries belonging to the regional and economic European Union. The countries currently involved are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. In the future the European Union hopes to grow and add more countries to this list. The banking system that the European Union uses is a Central Banking System. With the evolvement of the Euro the economics of Europe will be easier to maintain.
As of January 1, 1999 the national central banks and the European Central Bank were formed to help institute the monetary policy using the euro. The macroeconomics theory accompanied with the use of economic analysis can illustrate the ideas behind the EMS. The members of the EU have put a strong emphasis into the monetary and macroeconomic policies. In order to "reduce inflation the tried to have more stable competitive conditions within in the EMS which resulted in strict exchange rates". The European Union has a long way to go before it achieves 100% success. There are many advantages to having a united Europe to the people of Europe. One benefit is trade. There is now a free movement of goods, services, people and, money within the countries belonging to the European Union. Having a united Europe, which will result in the euro, will benefit information technology, administrative changes, and the information and training of employees. The benefits of the EU on citizens, businesses, and tourists will be determined by how much attention is paid by each particular country to maintaining and promoting good relations with one another. American businesses are affect by the united Europe. For example, in 1980-85 there was an unpredicted increase in the value of the dollar. As a result of the dollar appreciation many American industrial firms that competed in the international market were more profitable than in the past. The European Union also affects the business in the United States because the "cash forward market liquidity tends to 'dry up' in the middle of the afternoon because that is when the European currency traders are going home for the day. Investors in the ECU are growing on a daily basis. Investors tend look at the Union as a risk-returning investment according to dollar assets and the foreign alternatives that are available.
About Spain and European Integration we can say that Spain's accesion to European Community in January 1986 was the consummation of a political and economic transformation that had been taking place since 1959, when a group of Catholic Opus Dei technocrats began to open up the Spanish economy to foreign trade and investment, reversing the autarkic and isolationist policies pursued from 1939 to 1951, during the most fascist phase of Franco's dictatorship. The more serious discussions which begun abortively in 1964 and again in 1967 eventually led to a preferential trade agreement in 1970, but the EC was unwilling to enter a closer liaison as long as Franco ruled Spain.
The reforming conservative colition government of Adolfo Suárez (1976-1981) applied for full EC membership in july 1977, four months after Portugal and one month after winning a sweeping victory in the first democratic elections held since Franco's death.
