Understanding the European Union

Answer

1. Question One

   Understanding the European Union

               Following the Second World War, the need to avert another damaging war had never been higher across the world and Europe was no exception. Indeed, the idea of modern-day European Union was born shortly following the war. Politicians around Europe were increasingly determined to avert future conflicts in the region. Among the key founders of the European Union, then referred to as European Unity, is R. Schuman who was French foreign minister from 1948 through 1952 (EU). He was also a qualified lawyer, and was born in Luxembourg even though he was heavily influenced by German culture. In fact, it is thought that the Nazi Germany had a strong influence on his idea of united Europe because he felt that a lasting reconciliation was the only chance the region could stand as one. Germany had annexed the place he grew in. Prior the war, Schuman studied law, political philosophy, economy, as well as statistics receiving the highest distinction. The Second World War erupted when he was a junior minister and the tumultuous period meant that he only returned to politics following the war in a number of government posts. His stature in politics grew tremendously leading to his role as a crucial negotiator of key initiatives as well as treaties including the Marshall plan, NATO, as well as the Council of Europe. Worth noting, is that all of these efforts were geared towards increased cooperation throughout the western alliance as well as to unite Europe. This marked the start of a long road leading to the formation of the European unity and subsequently the European Union.

               Schuman, as one of the key founding fathers, is widely known for the Schuman declaration (1950). The declaration was inspired as well as largely drafted by J. Monnet, and the plan proposed to place German-Franco production of steel and coal under a common high authority. In essence, it proposed the development of a European Steel and Coal Community and members would pool production of these resources. Other European nations were also welcome to join the organization. The proposal was crucial to Europe at a time when countries were struggling economically following the Second World War. In essence, the plan insinuated that pooling economic interests would help to cool tensions between historic European rivals including Germany and France. As well, the plan about the idea of raising standards of living throughout the region, which was widely viewed as the initial steps towards a united Europe. Nevertheless, it is evident that Schuman’s plan was by far and large designed to generate common interests and diffuse tensions that had been simmering following the war. Suffice to say, common interest would facilitate political integration as European countries increasingly focused on shared interests rather than political differences. In fact, Schuman’s plan captured this aspiration just perfectly when it stated, “Europe will not be made all at once...built through concrete achievements” (Foundation Robert Schuman, 2015).

               One’s understanding of European Union ought to understand the various organizations and their role leading to the union formation. Schuman’s speech had far-reaching effects as it did not go unnoticed, and the German chancellor responded almost immediately. Other governments also positively responded including Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, as well as Luxembourg. Together, the six nations formed what is the basis of modern-day European Union by signing the treaty of Paris. This treaty was crucial as it created the all-important ECSC –European Coal and Steel Community. This organization represented the first sign of a united Europe because it was the first supranational community (E.U). The groundbreaking association paved the road for the European Economic Community -ECC. The ECC would prove to quite crucial because it essentially meant acceleration of cooperation in Europe via reduced tariff barriers as well as promote trade. The original members stood a great chance to benefit economically, which was crucially needed following the devastation of the war. Though the main goal of ECC revolved around economic recovery, it was hoped that political union would ensue and other European nations were clamoring to the opportunity to expand what had become to be referred as the common market. Indeed, the first signs of European Union could be felt as early as 1958 when Britain proposed the expansion of the common market/ECC into a transatlantic freed trade region. France vetoed the proposal, and Britain came up with idea of EFTA (European Free Trade Association), which other European nations joined. This proved to be the catalyst as various organizations including ECC and EFTA joined hands through a series of treaties to insure uniformity between them with respect to several economic policy areas. By 1995, members had transferred their membership to the wide-ranging European Union. Modern-day European Union represents a politico-economic body with up to 28 nations (EU). The goal is to advance economic, political, as well as social integration. It is based on several key institutions including European Commission, which is largely concerned with legislative, administrative, as well as executive functions. The European Council defines executive as well as legislative goals. Other key institutions include Court of Justice in Luxembourg, Council of ministers, and European Parliament.

   What role the European Union plays on media and communication matters, describe that role?  

               The European Union plays what can be described as a critical role in media and communication matters as reflected in policies relating to media and communication. At the core of the European Union, lies the challenge of developing a rather inclusive, equitable, as well as sustainable European information society. This is captured in the union’s digital agenda for Europe relating to the revolutionary influence associated with high-speed networks, electronic service convergence, as well as universal accessibility. Worth noting, is that digital agenda for Europe initiative reflects a succession of policies with information societies increased significance on the European Union policy agenda. Indeed, the need for information infrastructures was mirrored in the union’s white paper of 2003, which insinuated growth, competitiveness, as well as employment. The white paper laid out policies in relation to boosting information highway, and the European Council of the time was characterized by calls for the European Union to have faith in the need for the information age. In essence, strengthening Europe would require policies governing various institutions including media and communication via regulation, standards, as well as market facilitation. Indeed, the crucial role of the European Union in media and communication matters was reflected in the Action Plan for the Information Society. The action plan has continually guided the union on matters concerning media and communication as reflected in the Europe strategy. The strategy by the union recognized the modern digital age and unmistakably focused on a digital knowledge-based economy in Europe via growth, competitiveness, as well as job creation. The expectation associated with this strategy is that it contributes to benefits for the quality of life among citizens (Mansell 205). The Lisbon strategy by the turn of the century had been aimed to oversee the union’s growth to become competitive as well as dynamic knowledge-based economy within a decade. For instance, the Europe action plan of 2005 called for job creation, boosting productivity, modernization of public services, as well as enabling all to partake in the information society. This insinuates that the European Union is committed to support media and communication areas to oversee their growth, which is likely to lead to increased benefits for the citizens. The implication included policy frameworks among member nations seeking to unleash ICT, which includes media and communication, as a driver of economy. In fact, European Union’s policy framework in the area of media and communication are designed to with the aim of strengthening the scientific as well as technological bias linked European industry and to accelerate its competitiveness globally. Form the 1980s, European union’s supportive role has been evident as European Commission-sponsored projects were largely focused on communication infrastructure improvement as well as audio-visual services innovation. In relation to infrastructure research, the goal was to encourage developments, which would translate to economic viability. It can be said that the union sought to Europeanize the media as emphasis increased on specialized information services that were of European origin. The small and medium enterprises in the field of media and communication were given attention as the union sought to raise their participation in the information society. The motive of the European Union has barely changed over time and the digital era continues to experience massive support from the union. The digital agenda theme was launched with the goal of promoting internet access as well as uptake. From the start, the policy was meant to oversee low-cost services and improved use of internet services by the end-users. The implication is that the European Union’s role in the area of media and communication can be described as supportive and key policies are increasingly designed to ensure wellbeing and competitiveness of the industry. The expectation of the union is that designing such policies will lead to benefits for all citizens including improve quality of life.

   How do initiatives such as the Eurovision Song Contest, the “European Capitals of Culture” or “Television without Frontiers” illustrate those ideals?

               Various initiatives illustrate the supportive role of the European Union on media and communication. More so, the globalization process, member state integration, as well as the swift development of the new technologies constitutes the union’s intervention in various aspects of media and communication. For instance, the Television without Frontiers Directive of 1989 – now the Audiovisual Media Services Directive- illustrates the union’s ideals meant to improve media as well as communication in the region. The initiative is wide-ranging and simply seeks to govern region’s coordination of national legislation on audio-visual media including conventional television broadcasts as well as on-demand services. In particular, the initiative seeks to oversee that such important issues as protection of children as well as consumers are addressed even as Europe aspires to maintain the competitive edge. It can be said that the initiative oversees that union and society’s interests are maintained through responsible media as well as communication. Included in the initiative is the all-important unfair commercial practices directive, which is designed to safeguard consumers against misleading as well as aggressive commercial practices as far as economic transactions are concerned. Indeed, the directive has its roots to the 1960s efforts at the European level to codify as well as harmonize unfair competition law such that it enables the relevant interest to be considered. It becomes evident that the initiative is built around the European ideal that consumer ought to be safeguarded against commercial practices, which considerably limit her or his ability to reach an informed decision about economic transactions. The European Union realized that several commercial practices are capable of restricting consumer’s capacity to arrive at informed decisions and thus unfair. Indeed, the Audiovisual Media Services directive contains a dozen of such practices including inertia selling, pyramid selling, and advertising products/services as free but client is required to pay. Within the context of audiovisual service providers, the practices are quite significant since misleading as well as aggressive phone-in competitions can be controlled. Worth noting, is that such competitions are characterized by presenter’s repeated claim that the public joins with the promise of winning prizes easily. Yet, reaching the presenter via telephone is often challenging and the cost of making calls is relatively high all of which imply exploitation. The European Union’s ideals are also reflected in the initiatives via the requirement to provide the public with essential information. In essence, the initiatives seek to oversee that the union’s mandate in media and communication services throughout the region is accomplished. The initiatives such as European Capitals of Culture also are designed to foster European Union’s ideals in the area of media and communication, as they essentially serve to increase public’s sense of belonging to the common cultural region (EU). In fact, European Commission evaluates the initiative, which underlines its role in advancing the union’s ideals as far as regional unity and oneness is concerned.

   Question Two

               It is evident that the European Union’s role in the area of digital technologies is meant to Europeanize it via complex processes aimed at making the area competitive whilst keeping it under control. In fact, the policies since the union was formed imply the overt attempts to Europeanize digital technologies as possible. On the other hand, the policies emerge as union’s intervention to reign over powerful corporations such as Google. The development mirrors the challenge that the region has faced in its attempt to construct an inclusive, sustainable, as well as equitable information society. More so, the strategies targeted at achieving the various policies reveal competing issues with respect to supply-side and demand-side of the debate. For instance, it is easy to question whether the policy makers should privilege supply-side measures meant to stimulate digital technology innovation as well as economic growth or focus on demand-side measures fostering citizen capacities for tapping into digital technologies. A closer look at the Digital Agenda for Europe evidences the competing issues at hand. Mansell (203) notes that one answer is to accomplish smart growth, which implies a European economy that is based on knowledge as well as innovation. Worth noting, is that the production and uptake of digital technologies is deeply implicated in the directive. Europe’s dropping rate of economic growth has been attributed to the productivity gap with the rest of the world, and one of the reasons is the insufficient uptake of digital technologies as well as differences in business structure. Indeed, the ICT industry accounted for just 5 percent of Europe’s gross domestic product, which was much less, than figures posted in the United States and Japan (Mansell 203). Among other factors is the fact that Europe has been left behind by other regions with respect to high-speed internet penetration. This has not gone undetected by the union and a number of initiatives have been put forward to help transform the situation and make Europe globally competitive in the area of digital technologies. The digital agenda initiative, for instance, sets targets for broadband access to accelerate high-speed internet uptake as well as reap the benefits associated with a digital single market for households.

               A digital single market is necessary to foster European Union’s ideal of access for all including businesses and consumers to products/services throughout Europe (EU). Nonetheless, the digital agenda relates to the sweeping influence brought about by high-speed networks, convergence of electronic service, and widespread accessibility of information on any device. The shift towards a supportive environment via policies is envisaged. In fact, the economic growth priority in European Union’s desire to make the region globally competitive is underpinned by facts revealing that the effective utilization of digital technologies will require policy support. This is because the various policies by the union are characterized by opposing understandings of the link between technological innovation, social values and markets, as well as aspirations. Even more confounding is the fact that little to no acknowledgement is seen on the highest level of strategy. The implication is that the policies and directive benefit values linked to commercial interests of stakeholders as well as the social, cultural, and political interests of the public. Arguably, the institutional scaffolding for policy fosters a route-dependent trajectory for successive policies that end up privileging the supply-side measures over ones targeted at strengthening demand. The imbalances are were evident even prior the digital agenda launch, as citizens increasingly prioritized user rights and empowerment, economic growth, and productivity. On the other side, organizations prioritized economic issues ahead of such matters as user rights. The focus on technology and supply push was increasingly gaining attention by this time, as experts and other groups claimed that among Europe’s challenges for the information society was developing the skills and inferred knowledge necessary to ensure effective utilization of information. Using this viewpoint, ICT emerges as essentially complementary to human resources/skills investment. The outcome of concerted efforts was the eeurope strategy, which emphasized a digital knowledge-based economy for growth. The goals included boosting productivity, job creation, as well as enabling the public to partake all of which insinuate a user-oriented focus. This might have signaled the need for government intervention on the demand-side to rebalance attention that had increasingly been awarded to supply-push measures.

               Initiatives and directives in the digital technologies field are by far and large designed to improve the technological basis of the industry. Principally, they are geared either towards supply-push or demand-pull initiatives. The trends in Europe evidence this fact as programs have been subjected to continued evaluation over time. Yet, which side of the divide privilege has received little to no attention. For instance, the mid 1980s was all about European Commission sponsored projects that put emphasis on network infrastructure and audiovisual innovation. Later, the shift was towards policies and initiatives that emphasized the promotion of the competitiveness of the market. The attention, however, has indicated inclination towards the demand-side as the union sought to create new markets through raising awareness, which would trigger the potential for the development of high-quality digital content as well as supporting market enablers. At the beginning of 1990 there was a shift in policies as the European Union attempted to realign its global competitiveness. In fact, technical standards as well as network interoperability was given priority. This is evidenced by increased calls to develop open standards and services that are under user control. It is unsurprising that European Union’s policies and implementation strategies reveal competing values. The lack of a more balanced approach is evident, but it must be noted that policy measures implementation remains one of the most challenging areas for policy makers. The various studies that have been carried out have not revealed much either with some insinuating the need for state intervention for goals to be realized. Indeed, following the financial downturn of 2008 it was envisioned that public resources would be required to facilitate broadband access in areas in which market actors are doubtful to offer services.

               Altogether, independent evaluation of infrastructure as well as content initiatives throughout Europe reveals concern about the unevenness between technology and supply-side directives and ones targeted as socio-cultural objectives. Policy makers and other actors in the field ought to share the blame for the situation. For market barriers in the region to be overcome, radical approaches to institutional design is needed including developing a common European Union independent regulator. In fact, Herman (2015) notes that European officials often view regional fragmentation as the key reason why the continent has failed to develop firms capable of rivaling Google. More so, such triumphant companies as Google benefit from the fact that they are based in regions having a single set of rules granting access to an expansive market. Nevertheless, European companies are forced to navigate member states –thus different regulations as well as tax regimes. The fact that European information society is by far and large locked into technology supply-push direction even as the significance of the demand-side is known reveals a grim picture. This is evidenced in European Commission’s reports that have shown that the successful internet companies originate outside Europe. Among the principle responses is to employ supply-side strategies that can foster a single market for digital technologies. It remains open to question whether it is politically realistic for the institutions making up the European Union to transform with respect to the information society project. Only if those entrusted with the emerging strategies/directives/initiatives start to imagine a radical transformation in the institutional scaffolding at high political levels will there be hope of addressing the seemingly inherent contradictions in the information society sphere. Without this, any action including government intervention will only serve to increase the imbalances, as the supply-side commercial interest is favored. In sum, the internet as well as related applications are likely to develop in a manner that maximizes the potential for citizen empowerment to the extent they find a way to empower themselves.