Activity 1: The EU Economic Situation

1. THE CURRENT
ECONOMICAL, SOCIAL AND
CULTURAL SITUATION IN THE EU
By the German Erasmus+ Team
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2. 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE EU
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3. Erasmus +
• Day of foundation: 1.11.1993 in Netherlands
• Reasons: working together in peace for a better
economic and political system, a united and
successful Europe, stop wars
• Political criteria: democracy, human rights, no
discrimination
• Economy: functioning market economy to be able
to compete in the EU internal market

4. Erasmus +
Foundation countries:
• Belgium
• Germany
• France
• Luxembourg
• Netherlands

5. 2. Expansion of the EU and
connected countries
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2. Expansion of the EU

6. Erasmus +
Member countries of the EU (09.02.2015):
Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta,
Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Czech
Republic, Hungary, United Kingdom, Cyprus,
Croatia, Sweden

7. Erasmus +
What advantages did the countries see in their
membership?
• They hoped it would give them more prosperity
and a better life

8. 2. Expansion of the EU and
connected countries
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3. THE Institutions
OF THE EU

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The seven elements of the European Union are:
• European Parliament
• European Council
• Council of the European Union
• European Commission
• Court of Justice of the European Union
• European Central Bank
• European Court of Auditors

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11. 2. Expansion of the EU and
connected countries
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4. THE EUROSYSTEM

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The European system of central banks:
• Primary objective: maintaining price stability
• Not all states joined the Euro -> ESCB can not be
used as monetary authority
• For this reason, the Eurosystem was introduced

13. What is the Eurosystem?
• Composed of the national central banks of all
states that have introduced the Euro and the
European Central Bank
• The institution in charge of those tasks which in
principle had to be managed by the ESCB
• ESCB can’t handle those tasks because not all
states have the Euro
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14. Tasks and aims of the Eurosystem:
• Price stability
• Supporting general economic policies
• Acting with the principles of an open market
economy
• Financial stability and integration
• Improving monetary and financial cooperation
• Holding and managing the foreign reserves of
member states
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15. 5. THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC
POLICY
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The EU-Internal market:
• Common market of the 28 EU member states
• Exists under this name since the 1st of January
1993
• Biggest jointly market worldwide
• There are four basic freedoms: Freedom of
goods, persons, services and capital
• It’s a free trade zone, that means no duties

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• Free trade zone, which includes the
EU-internal market and three members of the
European free trade association (Liechtenstein,
Iceland and Norway)
• Involves 31 countries
• Provides also for the four basic freedoms
• In the EEA, half of the global trade takes place
510 Million inhabitants
The European Economic Area (EEA):

18. The EEA The EU-Internal market
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19. Comparison between the EEA
and the EU-internal market:
• The EEA has got 31 member states, the internal
market 28 from the EU
• Both have the same four principals
• Both areas are free trade zones with no duties
• Both are powerful economic zones
• The EEA is an extension of the EU-Internal
Market
• 80% of the rules of the EEA are like the rules of
the internal market
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20. Broad guidelines for economic policies:
• Are important for the coordination of the member
state‘s economic policy
• Adopted by the council in the form of a non-legally
binding recommendation
• A surveillance mechanism which aims to ensure
that Member States comply with them
• The commission is responsible for providing the
council with information on the economic
development of each of the member states
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21. Erasmus +
The guidelines:
• Smart, achievable and sustainable and inclusive
growth. macroeconomic equilibrium
• Stability and Growth Pact = control of its budget
deficit in its budget imbalances must renovate
homes, reducing public debts

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What happens if the member states
don’t follow the guidelines?
• First the member states get a warning from the
commission
• Next the Council can send suggestions to the
states
• The suggestions can be made public

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• To take measures to eliminate macroeconomic
imbalances, equity markets balances households
and corporate sector
• Member States whose currency is the euro,
reduce macroeconomic imbalances in the euro
area; large and persistent differences in their
current accounts and other macroeconomic
imbalances common concern, measures reducing
imbalances

24. 2. Expansion of the EU and
connected countries
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6. EUROPE 2020

25. Erasmus +
Main targets:
• Employment: 75% of all 20 to 64 year-olds
• Finances: 3% of the gross domestic product
(GDP) should be invested in development and
research
• Climate change: reducing heat-trapping gas by 20
% (in comparison to 1990)

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• Energy: increasing the amount of renewable
energies to 20% and raising the energy efficiency
by 20%
• Education: enhancing the amount of people with
finished A-levels
• Fight against poverty and social exclusion: the
count of people affected by poverty or exclusion
will be decreased by 20 million people

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Priorities:
• Intelligent and sustainable growth
• Investing in education, research, innovation
• Orientation to carbon-low economy and
environmental-friendly technologies
• Fighting poverty and creating workplaces
• Solid and effective system of economic control

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• Sustainable public finances are important to
achieve the economic policy
• government wants to promote the long-term
growth
• invest more in education, research and
infrastructure
• European economy has improved in recent years

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• The German government wants to use the
good economic situation to strengthen its base
• In the next years they want to achieve four goals:
Ø Better investment and innovation policy
Ø improve participation opportunities and
increase participatory justice
Ø lead the energy revolution to succeed
Ø the economic and monetary union in Europe
stabilize and deepen

30. 2. Expansion of the EU and
connected countries
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7. The current situation in the
Erasmus+ countries

31. Spain overview:
• Industrial Production Index (IPI): -0,1%
• The annual rate of the IPI stands at 0,0% in the
series adjusted for the seasonal and calendar
effect, and at -0,1% in the annual series.
• Unemployment rate rose from 23.67 percent in
the third quarter of 2014 up to 23.70 percent in the
fourth quarter of 2014
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32. Erasmus +

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Finland Overview:
• Finland has a highly industrialized, largely free-
market economy
• The Finnish economy is in it’s third consecutive
year of contraction

34. Erasmus +

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Poland overview:
• Economic growth slowed considerably in 2012
and 2013
• Unemployment rate in Poland increased to 11.5
percent in December of 2014
• A year earlier the unemployment rate was 13.4
percent

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8. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
AND COMMONALITIES
BETWEEN THE COUNTRIES OF
EUROPE

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Common art history:
• Artists like Picasso and da Vinci are popular in
every country in the EU.
Religion:
• Sunday is the day of rest in all countries
• Common Christian holidays
• Some Christmas songs are popular everywhere
Ø only in different languages
• Religious liberty in all countries

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Food:
• We have the same farmland (that the same things
can be grown)
• The same fruits and vegetables
• Mostly the same eating habits
Beverages:
• Alcohol is allowed in every country
• No big differences between the beverages (only
some prefer tea, some coffee or other drinks)

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Common history:
• World wars
• Conflicts
• Common structure of the EU
Humanistic background:
• Every country has Human rights
• Respect
• No discrimination or racisim

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Fashion and clothing:
• Clothing looks alike
• No fogging by clothing

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Main differences:
• Most countries are catholic, some are protestantic
• Intolerance of other religions in Hungary
• Turkey doesn‘t advocate women at work and
other religions
Ø bad conditions for joining EU
• Biggest alcohol consume in Luxembourg
• Income in eastern Europe is much less than in
western Europe

43. Erasmus +
Main commonalities:

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WE HOPE YOU LIKED THE
PRESENTATION

45. Sources:
1. - 3. Introduction, expansion , institutions
of the EU
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Political_System_of_the_European_Union.svg
Retrieved 8 January 2015

46. 4. Eurosystem
• Bundesbank: http://www.bundesbank.de/Navigation/DE/Bundesbank/Eurosystem/
eurosystem.html, Retrieved 8 January 2015
• Europäische Zentralbank: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/orga/escb/html/index.de.html,
Retrieved 8 January 2015
• EU-Info Deutschland: http://www.eu-info.de/euro-waehrungsunion/5009/5251/5252/,
Retrieved 8 January 2015
• Wikipedia:
• http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurosystem, Retrieved 8 January 2015 http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurosystem, Retrieved 8 January 2015 http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Europ%C3%A4isches_System_der_Zentralbanken, Retrieved 8 January 2015

47. 5. + 6. Europe 2020 / 7. current situation
• http://www.tradingeconomics.com/spain/unemployment-rate,
Retrieved 8 January 2015
• http://www.tradingeconomics.com/finland/unemployment-rate,
Retrieved 8 January 2015
• http://www.classbrain.com/art_cr/publish/finland_economy.shtml,
Retrieved 8 January 2015
• http://www.tradingeconomics.com/poland/unemployment-rate,
Retrieved 8 January 2015

48. 8. Cultural differences
• 1
http://www.domradio.de/themen/weltkirche/2014-05-20/statistiken-hohe-
religionszugehoerigkeit-der-eu, Retrieved 8 January 2015
• 2
http://www.nohatespeechmovement.org/hate-speech-watch/focus/islamophobia-and-
religious-intolerance, Retrieved 8 January 2015
• http://www.polsoz.fu-berlin.de/soziologie/arbeitsbereiche/makrosoziologie/projekte/
proj_laender_eu.html zugriff vom 8.01.215, Retrieved 8 January 2015
• http://www.academia.edu/1469893/
Religious_Intolerance_after_the_Patent_of_Toleration_1781_The_case_of_the_Hungaria
n_Lutherans , Retrieved 8 January 2015