Throughout this trip, I have loved most of the sites that we have visited but none as much as when we visited the European Commission. As someone who is interested in political science and economics, it was an amazing opportunity to learn about the economic situation in Europe. Specifically, how it relates to the European Union and how those economic situations can only truly be understood when approached from a political and social lens. An interesting example that the presenter gave was about Germany and inflation, and how from an economic perspective, there is no reason that Germany should be worried about inflation. But when you look at Germany’s history and how they had incredibly high inflation in the 1920s, it makes more sense why combating and preventing inflation is so important to Germany. He then went on to talk about the number of member states and why it is difficult for countries to become members. Applicant countries must not only be a democracy but also comply with all EU laws which are anywhere between 160 to 170 thousand pages long depending on the language that the laws are translated in. The process usually takes anywhere from 10 to 13 years unless the country already abides by a vast majority of the laws. The presenter’s job with the European Commission is to assess whether a country is ready to join the EU, deciding if the country is economically stable and whether the country has effectively implemented the required legislation to be accepted. However, passing the legislation and practicing the legislation do not always align. In Serbia, some of the most progressive human rights laws have been passed, which far succeed what is required by the EU. However, those human rights laws were not being effectively implemented and could hurt Serbia’s chances of being admitted to the EU.
As well as discussing the general process of admitting EU countries, the presenter also spent time in his presentation to address Brexit. To the presenter, the idea that the United Kingdom would leave the EU was absurd. Although all the other member countries in the EU are required to use the Euro, the UK was allowed to keep the Pound and also received other favorable terms. Also, the UK got what they wanted when they signed on to joining the EU, the UK relies heavily on trade between European nations. If the UK goes through with Brexit, every time an item moves between the UK and an EU country, the UK will have to pay a tariff. Because of the economic repercussions that will arise if Brexit occurs, there is a decent chance that the UK tries to join
the EU again and if it does, they would probably have to take the Pound out of circulation and implement the Euro. They would also most likely lose all of the favorable terms they had when they were still apart of the EU. Although it is understood that there will be massive economic effects to both the EU and UK if Brexit, there are more factors that have to be looked at and interpreted to understand why most UK citizens want to leave the EU. These aspects vary from wanting to decrease competition in the UK for jobs to nationalistic beliefs; however, without factoring in all of the political and social factors involved in Brexit, you can not understand the full implications of the British government’s position on leaving the EU.