Unit 4. Introduction to European Union Law

Lead-in

The European Union needs no introduction. Over half a century, it has brought political stability and economic prosperity to its citizens. It has created a frontier-free single market and a single currency, the euro. It has reunited a fractured continent. The European Union is a major economic and commercial power and the world’s biggest donor of development aid to poorer countries. Its membership has grown from six to 27 nations, bringing the EU’s population to nearly half a billion.

1. What do you think about the membership of the European Union?

2. Is it necessary to be a member of the European Union?

3. In your opinion what are the main principles of the European Union?

 

Reading 1: This text deals with the establishment of European Union law.

 

1. Read the passage Historical development and tell when the European Union began its history;

2. Read the passage What is the European Union Law and explain its essence;

3. How many member states does the European Union cover? Give the examples of candidate countries nowadays.

Task 1. Read the whole text and decide whether these statements are true (T) or false (F).

1. The EU began life in the 1950s as the European Economic Community with six founding members.

2. The Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia joined in 2004, followed in 2007 by Bulgaria and Romania.

3. Croatia and Turkey are the member states of the European Union.

4. European Union law has indirect effect within the EU's member states.

 5. Before a candidate country can join the EU it must have a stable system of democratic government, institutions that ensure the rule of law and respect for human rights.      

Glossary

political stability member states to be united in rich diverse frontier-free market single market commercial power fractured continent membership founding members economic integration to apply for historical ties ethnic diversity European Court of Justice landmark case legal order sovereign rights distinction

Historical development: The EU began life in the 1950s as the European Economic Community with six founding members — Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. They created a new way of coming together to manage their joint interests, based essentially on economic integration. They were joined by Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom in 1973, Greece in 1981, and Spain and Portugal in 1986. Unification of Germany in 1990 brought in the Länder from eastern Germany. In 1992, a new treaty gave more responsibilities to the Community institutions and introduced new forms of cooperation between national governments, thus creating the European Union as such. The EU was enlarged in 1995 to include Austria, Finland and Sweden. The Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia joined in 2004, followed in 2007 by Bulgaria and Romania. Three candidates, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey, have applied for membership. Europe has always been home to different peoples and cultures. Every member state includes people from other countries — usually with close historical ties to the host country. The EU sees ethnic and cultural diversity as an asset, and promotes tolerance, respect and mutual understanding.                         

What is the European Union Law? European Union law (historically called European Community law) is a body of treaties, law and court judgements which operates alongside the legal systems of the European Union's member states. It has direct effect within the EU's member states and, where conflict occurs, takes precedence over national law. The development of law of the European Community has been largely moulded by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). In the landmark case of Van Gend en Loos in 1963, the ECJ ruled that the European Community, through the will of Member States expressed in the Treaty of Rome, "constitutes a new legal order of international law for the benefit of which the states have limited their sovereign rights albeit within limited fields." Today the situation has changed due to the entering into force 1 December 2009 the Lisbon Treaty.

Member states of the EU : Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.

 

 Task 2. Put questions to the italicized words:

For example: Six founding members such as Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands were the founding members of the European Economic Community.

Question is: How many countries were the founding members of the European Economic Community?

Task 3. Answer the questions.

1. When did the European Union begin its life?

2. How many founding members established the first European Community?

3. What were the interests of founding members?

4. When was the European Union created as such?

5. Could you tell about the cultural diversity among the members of the European Union?

6. What does the European Union Law mean?

7. How many members are there in the European Union nowadays? Please list them.

Task 4. Complete the following sentences with the prepositions from the box.

of    of    by  after  on   of     for      of         from     in

More about the European Union:

1. The European flag is drawn as 12 stars a)…….. a circle symbolize the ideals b) …….. unity, solidarity and harmony among the peoples c) …….. Europe.

2. The European anthem can be described as the melody which comes a) …….the Ninth Symphony b) …….. Beethoven.

3. The European Union has 495 million inhabitants — the world’s third largest population a) ……. China and India.

4. The European Union covers more than 4 million km². Seen a) ……. a map of the world, this is not a huge area — but it embraces 27 countries. Their size varies widely, with France the biggest and Malta the smallest.

5. At present there are three candidate countries — Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic a)…….. Macedonia and Turkey.

6. Before a candidate country can join the EU it must have a stable system a) …….. democratic government, institutions that ensure the rule of law and respect b) …….. human rights. It must also have a functioning market economy and an administration capable of implementing EU laws and policies. The specific membership terms for each candidate country are worked out in negotiations with the European Commission.

 

Task 5. Match the verbs (1–6) with the nouns (a–f) they collocate with in the text.

 

1. to create	a) joint interests
2. to reunit	b) membership
3. to manage	c) frontier-free single market
4. to apply for	d) alongside the European Union
5. to operate	e) calls for regulation

 

Task 6. Match these terms with their definitions.

 

13. European Union law	a) the arguments used fighting a case
14. court	b) a controversy between individuals or groups of individuals
15. judge	c) to say that someone has committed a crime
16. defence	d) an official who presides over a court
17. European Court of Justice	e) a judicial establishment which examines different cases in the European Union
18. case	f) is a body of treaties, law and court judgements which operates alongside the legal systems of the European Union's member states.

 

Task 7. Match the beginning and endings of the words to make nouns. Write the words.

1 institut                        ion              ..... institution…...

2 commun                     ment           ……….

3 govern                        ence            . .…….

4 cooper                        ity               ………. 

5 toler                            ing              ...…….

6 understand                  ance            ………

7 judge                         ation               ……….

8 preced                       ment               ……….

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