English European Union

Topic outline

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  General

  "The Europe we live in today is the worst possible Europe apart from all the other Europes that have been tried from time to time. No European alliance, empire, commonwealth or community has endured forever, but we should want this one to last as long as it can." Timothy Garton Ash, The Financial Times, December 18, 2015.

  Subjects you need to know for the exam at the end of the semester:

  1/ The main events in the history of the EU (enlargements, major policy programmes, etc.
  2/ The main institutions and what they do.
  

  • Annonces des enseignants Forum
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  Internet sites and on-line texts

  - Europa.eu, "The history of the European Union", official webpage.

  - "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRwZyDTdCAcEurope: From WWII to Today's European Union", conference by Viking River Cruises, 2014.

  - Timeline of key events in EU history taken from Wikipedia.
  

  • EU Timeline: a simple fact sheet (12/11/2022) File 122.6KB
  • EU institutions: a simple fact sheet (13/11/2022) File 177.6KB
  • EU country & general info: a simple fact sheet (18/11/2022) File 161.7KB
  • UNA Europa universities: a simple fact sheet (20/11/2022) File 115.8KB
  • EU Multiannual Financial Framework (24/11/2022) File 149.4KB
  • Next Generation EU (29/11/2022) File 139.9KB
  • A short history of Brexit (3/12/2022) File 169.3KB
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  Videos

  - Short video on "How the EU Institutions Function" (8 minutes).

  - CNBC video on "How does the EU work?" (5:29 minutes)

  - Recovery plan for Europe, Next Generation EU, SPEECH by Ursula von der Leyen 27 May 2020 (make sure sound volume is on in the "original" button of the video).

  - "State of the Union Address by President von der Leyen at the European Parliament", full speech (in French, English and German) in text and video.

  - Economist video, "Public Debt: how much is too much?", September 2020.

  - CNBC Explains, "What is GDP?", 18 September 2018.

  -Anthony Evans, Optimal Currency Areas, 2017.
  

  -Erste Group, "Currency areas: USA vs. eurozone", July 2013.

  -Explainity Channel, "European Monetary Union", March 2019.

  -Explainity Channel, "European Monetary Union - Part 2", March 2019.

  -Alasdair Sandford, "Brexit Timeline 2016-2020: key events in the UK's path from referendum to EU exit", Euronews, last updated 31/01/2020.
  

  
  

  
  

  
  
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  News & Analysis

  - 2020-09-15: "The Guardian view on EU migration policy: past time it had one", Editorial, The Guardian.

  - 2020-09: VIDEO "What the Lesbos fire says about EU refugee policy", Ben Hall, The Financial Times, (transcript available)
  

  - 2020-09-08: VIDEO "Turkey, Greece and the dash for gas", David Sheppard, The Financial Times, (transcript available).

  - 2020-09-21: Web text "EC president announces 'new European Bauhaus' to help Europe move to a circular economy", by Cajsa Carlson, dezeen. You can watch a short history of the original Bauhaus movement here (with subtitles).

  - 2020-09-25: Jean Pisani-Ferry, "Europe's Recovery Gamble", Project Syndicate, Sep 25, 2020.https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/european-union-pandemic-recovery-program-gamble-by-jean-pisani-ferry-2020-09

  - 2020-11-18: Rafael Behr, "It was always lost on Brexiteers - but the EU is fundamentally about peace", The Guardian, 18 November 2020.

  - 2020-12-01: Daniel Boffey, "Von der Leyen: Hungary and Poland should take EU budget row to court", The Guardian, 1 December 2020.

  -2021-02-05: Caroline de la Porte and Mads Dagnis Jensen, "The next generation EU: An analysis of the dimensions of conflict behind the deal", Social Policy & Administration, Vol 55, Issue 2, March 2021, pp 388-402.
  

  - 2021-06: Eric Jones, "Next Generation EU: Solidarity, Opportunity, and Confidence", EUROPEAN POLICY ANALYSIS, Sieps (Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies), 11 epa, June 2021.
  
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  Vocabulary and weekly notes

  Text with key words in context. This is followed by Exercise a,etc. (a bit out of date by still useful).
  

  IATE European Union terminology database.
  

  • What is money? File 774.9KB
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  Quizzes

  "Can you name the countries of the Europe?" sporcle.
  

  "So you think you know Europe?" tricky Guardian quiz.

  
  

  "What do you know about the Council of Europe?" which is separate from the EU.

  Crossword on Europe.

  Crossword on European integration and union.