European Union and Human Rights Watch - Research Paper Example

The European Union (EU) is one of the many institutions created with the solid intent of promoting and fostering peace among the constituent members and the world in general. The EU has led to the achievement of many goals and missions among them protection of sovereignty of the member countries, enhancing economic status of the member states, promoting democracy and literacy in the member states. EU has also fostered and as well as establishing adaptable regional and international relation of the member countries and outside world.

The ideas that led to the formation and establishment of the European Union (EU) emerged in the early 1940s (Briney). The main idea was to reduce the series and cases of wars that involved individual European nations and to steer the constituent countries towards positive social-economic and political growth. It is important to reckon that the existence of small institutional relations otherwise called alliances, which consisted of friendly EU nations, was the main escalator and stimulator of the World War II that rocked the continent.

The purpose of the alliances was to help create a protective shell developed on pacts signed by friendly nations to assure military, political and economic support upon external attacks and threats against any member. Alliances defined the political organization of the European states during and immediately after the end of World War I. However, this changed during and after the World War II as states settled to deliberate and solve differences that spurred conflicts among them. The first step was the unification of the coal and steel industries under the umbrella of European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

This organization became operational upon the signing of the Paris Treaty in 1951 under the chairmanship of Robert Schuman, who was French minister for foreign affairs. Upon formation, ECSC consisted of six member countries namely, France, Belgium, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, and West Germany. In collectivity, the member states exercised control over the steel and coal industries, which produced ammunitions among other things (Dimitrakopoulos 13). The year 1957 saw the signing of yet another important pact named the Rome Treaty.

Rome Treaty led to the creation and establishment a common market known as the European Economic Community (EEC). The main reason behind signing and commencement of the EEC was to unify the Eastern and Western fronts that tended to be at war. EEC could therefore help spread diversity across the contradicting fronts as people moved and traded freely across the member states that included the initial six members of ECSC (Dimitrakopoulos 14). During the same year of 1957, and still in Rome, was the signing of another treaty that led to the creation of the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or EURATOM).

The three organizations that included the ECSC, EEC and the EAEC reduced to what was the European Communities. According to Carbaugh, the need to consolidate the operations of the three organizations under single commission and council attracted a meeting in Brussels that led to the eventual signing of the Treaty of Merger in 1965 (7). Denmark, United Kingdom and Ireland joined the European Communities in 1973, raising the number of members to nine. The increasing