Int. Org. 2024-3. European Union PDF

[email protected] INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS 3/5 Five two-hour lectures, every other week Year 1, Semester 1 Licence LEA (Applied Foreign Languages) 2024-2025 1 LESSON PLAN LECTURE 1: UNITED NATIONS LECTURE 2: NATO-B...

[email protected] INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS 3/5 Five two-hour lectures, every other week Year 1, Semester 1 Licence LEA (Applied Foreign Languages) 2024-2025 1 LESSON PLAN LECTURE 1: UNITED NATIONS LECTURE 2: NATO-BRICS-OPEC LECTURE 3: EUROPEAN UNION LECTURE 4: NGOS LECTURE 5: CRITICAL CONCLUSION 2  LESSON PLAN LECTURE 3: EUROPEAN UNION HOMEWORK 1: VIDEO ‘WHAT ARE THE UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS? - BENEDETTA BERTI’ (4’46) HOMEWORK 2: TEXT OPEC / OPEC+ LECTURE 3: THE EUROPEAN UNION 3 LESSON PLAN LECTURE 3: EUROPEAN UNION HOMEWORK 1: VIDEO ‘WHAT ARE THE UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS? - BENEDETTA BERTI’ (4’46) 4  LESSON PLAN LECTURE 3: EUROPEAN UNION HOMEWORK 2: TEXT OPEC / OPEC+ 5 6  OPEC / OPEC+ 1. Why didn’t OPEC+ countries increase oil production to reduce prices? → They don’t want to be dictated to by the West → other OPEC+ nations have technical difficulties to pro duce more 3. What is Russia’s wish? → to keep oil prices low 4. Do OPEC+ countries follow Russia’s desire? → Opec+ wants to keep good relations with Russia (= one of the two biggest partners in the alliance). 7 8 9 ‘Big Oil’ (aka ‘Seven Sisters’) = the world's seven largest oil and gas companies: BP (British Petroleum, UK) Gulf Oil (Chevron, US) Shell (UK) Standard Oil of California (Chevron, US) Exxon (later ExxonMobil, US) Mobil (later ExxonMobil, US) Texaco (Chevron, US) 10  LESSON PLAN LECTURE 3: THE EUROPEAN UNION 11 12  International Governmental Organisation (IGO) THE EUROPEAN UNION 13 THE EUROPEAN UNION How many countries are there in the EU? → 27 How many can you name? 14 15 European Union (EU): international THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU) organisation comprising 27 European countries and governing common economic, social, and security policies. The EU’s members are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. As of today, there are 8 recognised candidates for membership of the European Union: Turkey (since 1999), North Macedonia (2005), Montenegro (2010), Serbia (2012), Albania (2014), Moldova (2022), Ukraine (2022), and Bosnia & Herzegovina (2022). https://www.britannica.com/topic/European-Union 16  VIDEO: WHAT IS THE EUROPEAN UNION ? (3'44) 17 Video: What is the European Union ? (3'44) 1) As a democracy, what is the EU's rank in the world? → the second biggest democracy in the world 2) How many people live in the EU? → 450 million people 3) How many institutions are there in the EU ? → 7 institutions 4) What are the EU's 3 main institutions? → European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council, each with a different leader. 5) Who controls the EU? → no official single leader: seven institutions share power. 18 19 Video: What is the European Union ? (3'44) 6) Who is the closest equivalent to a leader of the EU? What is the current leader's name? → the president of the European Commission (currently: Ursula von der Leyen) 7) What are the EU's 3 main functions ? → #1: to promote the economy: single market allowing goods, services, capital and people to move freely across national borders. negotiating trade agreements with other countries (Japan, Canada, South Korea…) → #2: to develop and implement common policies in Agriculture (supporting farmers), Environment (reduce greenhouse gas emissions), Energy and Transport. → #3: to protect fundamental human rights: freedom of expression, privacy (e.g. General Data Protection Regulation) and non-discrimination. 20  Video: What is the European Union ? (3'44) 8) What does the EU allow European countries to collectively achieve on a global scale? → To have global influence to counterbalance major powers such as China, Russia and the United States. 21 EU TODAY 22  EU - today estimated total population : around 448 million 5.8% of the world population in 2020 2022 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) : around US $ 16.6 trillion = approximately one sixth (= 1/6 = 17 %) of global GDP third-biggest global economy, after the United States and China. 23 EU - today INSTITUTIONAL SEATS: Brussels: Commission, Council of Ministers, European Council, Parliament #2 Frankfurt am Main: Central Bank Luxembourg: Secretariat of the European Parliament, Council of Ministers #2, Court of Justice of the European Union, Court of Auditors, Commission Strasbourg: Parliament 24 Bulgarian: ОБЕДИНЕН В МНОГООБРАЗИЕТО MOTTO Irish: Ní ceart go cur le chéile Croatian: Ujedinjeni u različitosti Italian: Uniti nella diversità Czech: Jednotná v rozmanitosti Latvian: Vienota dažādībā Danish: Forenet i mangfoldighed Lithuanian: Suvienijusi įvairovę Maltese: Magħquda fid-diversità Dutch: In verscheidenheid verenigd Estonian: Ühinenud Polish: Zjednoczona w mitmekesisuses różnorodności Finnish: Moninaisuudessaan Portuguese: Unida na diversidade yhtenäinen Romanian: Uniţi în diversitate French: Unie dans la diversité Slovak: Zjednotení v rozmanitosti German: In Vielfalt geeint Slovene: Združena v raznolikosti Greek: ΕΝΩΜΈΝΟΙ ΣΤΗΝ Spanish: Unida en la diversidad ΠΟΛΥΜΟΡΦΊΑ Swedish: Förenade i mångfalden Hungarian: Egység a sokféleségben EUROPEAN ANTHEM: ‘Ode to Joy’ from Beethoven's 9th Symphony (1823) 25 The US’s Great Seal (1782) contains the US’s motto in Latin: E Pluribus Unum ("Out of many, one") 26  EU THE ORIGINS 27 EU - the origins After World War II: 6 western European countries sought closer economic, social, and political ties to achieve economic growth and military security, and to promote a lasting reconciliation between France and Germany. 1951: 6 countries (“the inner Six”) — Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, West Germany— founded the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). 28 EU - the origins 1957: the 6 ECSC members signed the 2 Treaties of Rome that established the European Economic Community (EEC) to promote economic cooperation and integration to ensure free movement of people, goods, services, and capital to maintain peace and stability in Europe the European Atomic Energy Community (EurAtom), designed to facilitate cooperation in atomic energy development, research, and utilization. 29 EU - the origins 1993: ‘European Union’: now the member countries work together not only in politics and economy, but also in money, justice, and foreign affairs 1995: Schengen Agreement abolished passport controls → EU citizens can live, study, work and retire anywhere in the EU. → Tourists and businesses also benefit from these rights. → All EU countries are part of Schengen except for Ireland and Cyprus. → 4 non-EU countries are also part of the Schengen area: Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. 30 31 32 33 EU – success 2002: €uro currency ; became the second-largest reserve currency in the world 34  EU – fail 2010s: Greece faced a major sovereign debt crisis and the Greek economy suffered the longest recession of any advanced mixed economy to date and became the first developed country whose stock market was downgraded to that of an emerging market in 2013 → the EU failed to provide helpful solutions other than a series of sudden reforms and austerity measures that led to impoverishment and loss of income and property, as well as a humanitarian crisis. → As a result, the Greek political system was upended, social exclusion increased, and hundreds of thousands of well-educated Greeks left the country 35 EU - the origins 2020: Although a founding member of the EU, the United Kingdom left the organisation (2016 Brexit vote: 51.9 %) 36 37 38 39 40  EU- today The European Union (EU) has 24 official languages While documents are in every official EU language as a right, day-to-day work in the European Commission is based around its 3 working languages: English, French, and German. English and French are used the most often. 41 Language & power at an international level Power is exercised through language use and by making strategic choices about what information is to be made available and in which languages , both for internal and external communication Governments and organisations can regulate people’s access to (or exclusion from) public life and services through translation policies. → importance of translation : ‘traduttore, traditore’ (→ ‘translator = traitor’ ?) 42  Languages at the EU 1958: Regulation #1 determined the 6 founding Member States’ languages as the official and the working languages to be used by the European Economic Community. The Regulation has been amended several times over the years, adding the official languages of new member states. Institutional multilingualism (fundamental principle) = → in favour of linguistic diversity (EU Charter of fundamental rights (art. 22), Treaty on European Union (art. 3) → “equal rights for all languages”: all laws and outgoing documents are drafted in all official languages. However, EU institutions limit the number of working languages in order to keep the amount of translation work manageable. 43 Working languages at the EU French is the working language of the European Court of Justice. English is the most widely understood language in the EU (understood by 44% of all adults). Used as a ‘lingua franca’ in many international organisations. German is the most widely used mother tongue (spoken by 18%). 10-Euro note from the new “Europa series”, written in the Latin (EURO), Greek (ΕΥΡΩ) and Cyrillic (ЕВРО) alphabets, as a result of Bulgaria joining the EU in 2007. 44  TEXT: ‘WHY THE EU ONLY HAS THREE 'WORK' LANGUAGES’ 45 1. How well is linguistic diversity respected within the European Union? → While the EU is supposed to be promoting and respecting the ‘linguistic diversity’ of its 24 official (‘de jure’) languages, the European Commission’s ‘work’ languages are actually (‘de facto’) English, French (and German), which is in violation with the EU’s founding principle. 46  2. Why are only 3 ‘work’ languages used instead of the official 24? → Because it would be too expensive to use all 24 languages simultaneously. 3. What solution was recommended by a Swiss economist? → To adopt only ONE working language. 47 48  4. Which language should be the only official working language? → English, because it is the most widely understood language in the EU (understood by 44% of all adults). 5. Why would that be a paradox? → Because after the UK left the EU (Brexit 2016-2020), only 13% of EU citizens speak English as their native language. (while German is the most widely used mother tongue, spoken by 18%.) 6. Why would that actually be the best solution? → Because most countries would be on equal footing, with English as a second language (except for Ireland and Malta.) 7. Can you deduce what a ‘lingua franca’ (l.23) is? → A communication language spoken by a majority if non-native speakers, 49 50  8. How could the money saved be used if English was the EU’s only official work language? → The money saved could be used to actively support ‘linguistic diversity’, especially by promoting minority languages in new technologies: social media, streaming services, etc. 51