An Analysis Of Problems And Prospects On The Progress Of EU’s Political Integration

Europe is the earliest regional integrated region. The strategic vision ofunifying Europe has already been formulated since the mediaeval times. Thenwith the social changes, the idea of European Union was developed by thepromotion of the political elites and thinkers. However, during this period thepolitical alliance of the Europe was merely conceptual. Eventually the burst ofthe Second World War turned this idea into reality. After that war, the Europeancountries suffered severe damage. The pattern of the world was completelychanged. The US and the Soviet Union became the most important two poles ofthe world. The development demanded the Europe to unify and strengthen them.In the light of the situation at that time, European countries can only cooperate inthe economy. As a result, the six west European countries formed“EuropeanCommunity”in 1967 and gradually made progress on the integration ofeconomy.As the development of the economic integration, the member countries of theEuropean Community were increasing and the foundation of the politicalintegration gradually appeared. And in order to seek the motivation of thepolitical integration, the member countries progressively enhanced thecooperation in political affairs. From the establishment of political cooperationover the European politics to the formation of European political union regime,from the draft of the Maastricht Treaty to the Amsterdam Convention’s cominginto force, from the stagnation of the Treaty establishing a Constitution forEurope to the final sign of the Lisbon treaty, the common foreign and securitypolicy of the European Union are increasingly enhanced and the cooperation onthe judicature and internal affairs is constantly deepening.Although the European political integration has already made remarkableachievement, many issues with the gradual process still remain: First of all, thereis unbalanced economic and political development among the member countries of EU, which leads to the dilemma on sovereign transfer and eastwardsexpansion. Second, conflicts on ethnic and cultural identity and the demand gapbetween the political elites and people also impede the process of the politicalintegration. Third, the decision-making and decision-executing mechanism of theEuropean Union is flawed. Finally, the influence of the USA also obstructs thedevelopment of the political integration. Despite all that, the driving force stillguarantees the steady progress of the European political integration: Culturally,the identical European civilization is inveterate. Economically, the economicintegration of the EU has already reached an overflowed level. Politically, theinternal and external political pressure will push forward the integration.Therefore, in pursuit of the objective to construct a powerful union, themember countries of the EU should improve the decision-making mechanism,expand the identification of the united Europe, enhance the communicationamong themselves, increase the investment in education and technology, andeventually realize the political integration of the whole Europe and promote thepattern of development to other areas.