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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2012/oct/12/europa-project-revisited-european-union
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| Europa project revisited: what is the EU for, again? | Europa project revisited: what is the EU for, again? |
| (4 months later) | |
| A year ago, with Europe mired in its deepest crisis for 60 years and an air of revolt sweeping the continent, the Guardian teamed up with five other European newspapers to explore the question of what the EU is for. The union is currently reviled perhaps like never before: a euro debacle, debt swamping the continent, expansion stalled, sluggish economies going backwards, euroscepticism on the rise. But what of the European success stories? What about trade, movement of people, prosperity, environmental law? What about social programmes, collective heft and – as the Nobel prize committee pointed out – the advent of peace in a part of the world that had been blighted by cataclysmic war every couple of generations? | A year ago, with Europe mired in its deepest crisis for 60 years and an air of revolt sweeping the continent, the Guardian teamed up with five other European newspapers to explore the question of what the EU is for. The union is currently reviled perhaps like never before: a euro debacle, debt swamping the continent, expansion stalled, sluggish economies going backwards, euroscepticism on the rise. But what of the European success stories? What about trade, movement of people, prosperity, environmental law? What about social programmes, collective heft and – as the Nobel prize committee pointed out – the advent of peace in a part of the world that had been blighted by cataclysmic war every couple of generations? |
| A team of reporters for the Europa project fanned out to find out what the EU did well. There is the single market, which our report argued "has made goods cheaper, labour cheaper, and trade more secure and more competitive. The knock-on effects are felt across the economy, from the jobs created and the cheaper costs of manpower to foreign direct investment that pours in from countries enticed by getting a foothold in the world's richest consumer market." | A team of reporters for the Europa project fanned out to find out what the EU did well. There is the single market, which our report argued "has made goods cheaper, labour cheaper, and trade more secure and more competitive. The knock-on effects are felt across the economy, from the jobs created and the cheaper costs of manpower to foreign direct investment that pours in from countries enticed by getting a foothold in the world's richest consumer market." |
| There are the cross-border businesses that find it easier to operate in a single economic space. There is the free movement of people that has made life easier for border inhabitants and created job opportunities everywhere – and not just for highly paid footballers. There are the social transfers that provide safety nets where national governments have none. "I don't think our foundation could continue to exist unless we had those sources of EU money," one British programme director told us. | There are the cross-border businesses that find it easier to operate in a single economic space. There is the free movement of people that has made life easier for border inhabitants and created job opportunities everywhere – and not just for highly paid footballers. There are the social transfers that provide safety nets where national governments have none. "I don't think our foundation could continue to exist unless we had those sources of EU money," one British programme director told us. |
| There are green spaces, protected largely by EU directives – although the report card is less glowing when it comes to agriculture and fisheries. The eurozone has its problems of imbalance, productivity, growth, debt and unemployment, certainly. The EU is harder to dismiss. | There are green spaces, protected largely by EU directives – although the report card is less glowing when it comes to agriculture and fisheries. The eurozone has its problems of imbalance, productivity, growth, debt and unemployment, certainly. The EU is harder to dismiss. |
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