The European Union and You: Understand the Constitution, the Reform Treaty and the Arguments

The European Union and You provides a guide to the EU. It shows how the EU developed, including the strategy for centralising power and unifying the states of Europe. It provides: an introduction to the treaties; an account of the EU's institutions, their roles and procedures; important EU concepts and the specialised euroterminology essential to the understanding of the EU. It covers key players; an account of the Constitution; and, an account of the Reform Treaty.A Major Issues section provides a critical examination of some fifty topics including: policy areas - EU expansion, employment, public services/privatisation, housing, foreign policy and militarisation, agriculture and fisheries etc; undue complexity of the EU, the failure to make the EU understandable and user-friendly; the problems of the Constitution, and the Reform Treaty/Treaty of Lisbon; ever closer union - the abiding, long-term plan for the unification of the states of Europe, the commitment to superstatehood ; the centralisation of power; democratic deficit; political accountability; accounting for the spending of EU funds; the role of the Commission; the influence of lobbyists; secrecy in decision-making; and, inconsistency in the application of principles and policies.This title includes expert and popular proposals for running the EU, and texts of key EU documents: the policies of parties in the European Parliament; alternatives to the Constitution; views of EU citizens, MPs and MEPs. European Union texts included are: The Laeken Declaration (The Future of Europe), 2001; the Constitution, 2004; the IGC Mandate for the Reform Treaty (Treaty of Lisbon) agreed by EU leaders in 2007. The European Union and You examines why the EU suffers from a lack of public understanding and confidence and is suffering a protracted crisis of political and organisational uncertainty. It presents a readable account that will shed light into the workings of the European Union. The author hopes that his analysis and ideas will help to foster rational, informed and fruitful debate that may help the European Union to become a better and more acceptable servant of its 500 million citizens with maps, diagrams and statistics.