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The European Union and its Social Issues

Students Name: TANGELIA R. COLE

Lecturers Name: Beverlin Hammett

Unit Title: BUSI 464 International Market Integration and Trade Agreements

Submission Date: April 24, 2015

The European Union

The EU is a political and economic union between 28 countries within Europe. People, capital, goods and services can move freely between member states of the EU. Countries within the EU also use a single currency; the Euro. The EU began in 1958, it has a population of 507 million people; its GDP is 18 trillion US dollars while per capita incomes of individuals living within the EU is 36,000 US dollars as of 2014. The Human development or living standards of EU citizens is also high (Richard 2013).

The European Union was formed mainly to achieve the following objectives, to allow the free movement of goods, services, capital as well as people between member states, to set up a stable currency, to increase trade amongst member states, to control inflation as well as to improve the livelihood of citizens of member states. Over the past few years, the union has succeeded in having stable inflation rates amongst member states, incomes of people within the EU has improved as a result of increased economic activities amongst member states as well as an increase in the value of the Euro, the Euro has increased in value because of its internationalization over the years, there is also free movement of labor within the EU which has benefited countries with high unemployment rates within the EU such as Greece (Richard 2013).

EU Countries

The European Union comprises of 28 member states, EU countries are, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Illegal immigration within the European Union

Illegal immigration refers to the movement of people from one country to another illegally. An immigrant also becomes an illegal immigrant when he/she overstay their visa period. Illegal immigrants thus live in a country contrary to the countries immigration laws. Majority of illegal immigrants come from poor countries. Others are fleeing conflicts as well as political prosecutions. In recent years, majority of illegal immigrants came from Africa while others are from the Middle Eastern countries such as Syria (Helma 2012).

How the trade agreement contributed to this problem.

An increase in wages amongst workers within the EU has acted as a pull factor for illegal immigrants. Increase in wages was caused by a high currency value, increased trading activities within EU countries as well as low inflation rates amongst member states. The curve below shows the increase in the monthly average earnings for workers within the European Union.

Graph 1.0: Monthly average earning for workers within EU from the year 2001 to the year 2014

From the table, we can see that average wages amongst workers within the EU is on the rise. In the year 2001, an EU worker was earning an average of 1,300 Euros; last year the same worker earned an average of 1,690 Euros. This increase in wages can attracted illegal immigrants to want to move to the EU countries, particularly countries such as Germany where monthly average earnings for workers is 3,449 Euros and unemployment rate is 4.8% (Erik & Anand 2012).

Inflation rate within EU is also low. Majority of countries where illegal immigrants come from record high inflation rates, an example is Syria, whose inflation rate stood at 88% in the year 2013 and 50% in the year 2012. With low inflation within the EU countries, immigrants are assured of good economic stability, stable cheap prices for goods and services as well as high disposable incomes. The table below shows the inflation rate of EU since the year 2001.

Graph 1.1: EU inflation rate since the year 2001.

From the graph, we can see that prices of goods and services within EU are stable. This keeps costs of goods and services to consumers low.

The European Union has also the largest GDP in the world. The growth of its GDP has been high since it was formed. Below is a graph showing the growth of Europe’s GDP since its formation.

Graph 1.2: Europe’s GDP growth since its formation.

High GDP is as a result of businesses within EU producing more goods and services for the Union as well as for the world. Some companies within the union are hiring illegal immigrants because they demand for low wages and this helps them keep production costs low. Companies’ are also demanding more workers as they increase their production outputs.

Another factor that has contributed to the rise in illegal immigrants within EU is the free movement of people between EU member states. An immigrant can thus apply for a visa in a less restrictive EU country and immigrate to a more restrictive EU country (Steve & Wyn 2012).

How a Christian organization can mobilize in the Union in order to address the problem that the Union is facing.

Christian organizations can set up in regions where immigrants originate. Examples of such regions include the coastline of North Africa. They can come up with campaigns that will inform the public in such regions about the dangers of crossing the Mediterranean Sea as well as the hurdles faced by illegal immigrants that are already in the EU. This will discourage them to immigrate illegally to the EU. The Christian organization can also ensure that authorities in EU countries such as Italy handle illegal immigrants in a human way. This will include giving them food; shelter as well a medicine upon their arrival. The organization can also set up a program that can be funded by the European Union that will help illegal immigrants who wish to voluntarily repatriate back to their countries of origin.

References

Erik Jones, Anand Menon (2012) The Oxford Handbook of the European Union Oxford

University Press

Professor Helma Lutz (2012) Migration and Domestic Work: A European Perspective on a

Global Theme Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Richard Ball (2013) The Legitimacy of The European Union Through Legal Rationality: Free Movement of Third Country Nationals Routledge

Steve Marsh, Wyn Rees (2012) The European Union in the Security of Europe: From Cold War to Terror War Routledge