A Changing World: A Changing Union In recent years the European Union has began taking a new shape, positioning itself as a major competitor in the global market. With economies becoming increasingly integrated and globalization creating a new playing field for trade, new strategies have been necessary to grow with and beyond other world markets. Some of these strategies have included monetary unification, decentralization, enlargement, welfare reform, and social convergence. In the following essay I will address of these strategies and convey my thoughts and concerns surrounding them.MONETARY UNIFICATION AND THE EUROIn my opinion the introduction of the Single European currency has been a tremendous feat for the European Union. Ten years ago very few would have said it could happen, especially in such a short time. The United States took 53 years to establish its single currency and the EU is doing it in about nine. By using the Euro the Union has been able to eliminate the exchange risk between participating countries. At the same time giving up domestic currencies has been a hard pill for some countries to swallow. Despite the efficiency of a common currency, tradition and pride has kept some nations such as Sweden and Britain from joining the EMU. Others, including candidate nations, are ineligible for the currency.THE DECENTRALIZATION OF NATIONSOne of the largest barriers for the EU is overcoming the centralized individual governments of European countries. National pride and lack of interest have kept many nations from accepting the idea of giving up power for a greater good. This is especially true in countries that have historically functioned under more socialistic policies. The EU promotes democracy and entrepreneurship, ideas that in some cases scare individual citizens, despite their governments economic interest. The same problem exists to an extent with ethno-centralism. Pride in culture and history threaten the potenti...
