The European Union Fisheries Policy

Ideas of European integration. The notion of European unity did not arise exclusively from the ashes of the First, neither the Second World wars. The notion of European cooperation can be traced back to much earlier times. The 19th century was very much the century with great attention to the nation states although even at that time there were thinkers, e.g. Victor Hugo, Mazzini, Proudhon, Cattaneo who advocated closer union among amongst the people of Europe. During the late 1930s, Winston Churchill proposed a federal union between Britain and France and introducing common citizenship and joint parliament. Once the allied powers secured victory over Nazism in Europe in 1945, the important practical step followed, i.e. creation of common institutions which would make it virtually impossible for European states to get to war with each other again. In the 2004 Draft Constitution all the essential ingredients for an eventual federation have been formulated and fixed; although the question still prevails, whether we are living in a post-nation-state world. Therefore in the new 2007 Lisbon Treaty most of the “federalist-hints” and symbols have been eliminated and instead “united in diversity” principle was explored. Economic integration is a term used to describe how different aspects between economies are integrated. The basics of this theory were written by the Hungarian Economist Béla Balassa in the 1960s. As economic integration increases, the barriers of trade between markets diminishes. The most integrated economy today, between independent nations, is the European Union and its euro zone.