The EU (Sheeps NES)

The European Union (EU) is a supranational and intergovernmental union of 27 democratic member states of Europe and their respective overseas departments (esp. France, Spain, Portugal and United Kingdom). The European Union was established under that name in 1992 by the Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht Treaty). Many aspects of the Union existed before that date through a series of predecessor relationships, dating back to 1951





Internal policies
* Free trade of goods and services among member states (an aim further extended to three of the four EFTA states by the European Economic Area, EEA).
* A common EU competition law controlling anti-competitive activities of companies (through antitrust law and merger control) and member states (through the State Aids regime).
* The Schengen treaty allowed removal of internal border controls and harmonisation of external controls between its member states. This excludes the UK and Ireland, which have derogations, but includes the non-EU members Iceland and Norway. Switzerland also voted in 2005 to become part of the Schengen zone.
* Freedom for citizens of its member states to live and work anywhere within the EU with their spouses and children, provided they can support themselves (also extended to the other EEA states and Switzerland). This has led to a anomaly whereby family related social welfare benefits are payable by the member state where an EU citizen is employed, even where the family of the worker are resident elsewhere in the Union.
* Free movement of capital between member states (and other EEA states).
* Harmonisation of government regulations, corporations law and trademark registrations.
* Eurozone, a single currency area with the euro (the currency of just under half the EU nations) (excluding the UK and Denmark, which have derogations). Sweden, although not having a specific opt-out clause, has not joined the ERM II, voluntarily excluding itself from the monetary union.
* A large amount of environmental policy co-ordination throughout the Union.
* A Common Agricultural Policy and a Common Fisheries Policy.
* Common system of indirect taxation, the VAT, as well as common customs duties and excises on various products.
* Funding for the development of disadvantaged regions — structural and cohesion funds, as well as the emergency financial aid — the solidarity fund.

External policies and military

* A common external customs tariff, and a common position in international trade negotiations.
* Funding for programmes in candidate countries and other Eastern European countries, as well as aid to many developing countries, through programmes such as Phare, TACIS, ISPA.
* The establishment of a single market energy community by means of the Energy Community South East Europe Treaty.
* The establishment of a single market aviation area.
* The establishment of a European Defence Agency.
* The establishment of a European Rapid Reaction Force

Co-operation and harmonisation in other areas

* Freedom for citizens of the EU to vote and to stand as candidates in local government and European Parliament elections in any member state.
* Co-operation in criminal matters, including sharing of intelligence (through EUROPOL and the Schengen Information System), agreement on common definition of criminal offences and expedited extradition procedures.
* A common foreign policy as a future objective, however this has some way to go before being realised. The divisions between the member states (in the letter of eight) and then-future members (in the Vilnius letter) during the run up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq highlights just how far off this objective could be before it becomes a reality.[neutrality disputed]
* A common security policy as an objective, including the creation of a 60,000-member European Rapid Reaction Force for peacekeeping purposes, an EU military staff and an EU satellite centre (for intelligence purposes).
* Common policy on asylum and immigration.[citation needed]
* Common funding of research and technological development, through four-year Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development. The Seventh Framework Programme is running from 2007 to 2013.


Member Nations (In List Format):

Belgium
France - InsanePanda
Germany - Tyrion
Italy - Azale
Luxembourg - jalapeno_dude
Netherlands
Denmark
Ireland
United Kingdom - Canuck3
Greece - Azash
Portugal
Spain - Luckymoose
Austria
Finland
Sweden
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Poland - Kamilian
Slovakia
Slovenia
Bulgaria
Romania

Candidate Countries:
Croatia - Cleric
Turkey - Knigh+
Macedonia

Potential Candidate Countries:
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Albania
Serbia
Montenegro

Resolutions:

To be Voted on:

Passed: Resolution 1,
the proposal to apply for observer organization status in the OIC

Resolution 2:
that a working group be formed to consider possible amendments to the sections of the Treaty of Nice regarding relative voting weights and the size of the European Commission, to report to the Council of the European Union by January 1st, 2008.

Resolution#4:

The Treaty for a Revised European Constitution:
I. By December, 2007, a new European Constitution consisting of only a basic fundamental framework shall be ratified to replace the current constitution.
II. By December, 2009, a new Consitutional Convention is to have convened, consisting of representatives from all European Union members. This Convention is charged with the creation of a new European Constitution based upon the principles of a "Common Foriegn and Security Policy" whilst at the same time maintaining a large degree of sovereignty for member states domestically.
III. By January, 2010, a European Union-wide referendum will be held, to determine whether or not the new constitution shall be enacted throughout the Union.


Failed:
Resolution 3:
The further funding and improvement of our space program with the final aim of being the first to colonise the moon.

Resolution #5:

1. The following resolution shall be adopted by the European Union and submitted to the Security Council by an EU representative:
I. All property seized in the split of the island between the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities shall be returned to its rightful owners.
II. Turkish forces shall immediately withdraw from the island.
III. A system of direct proportional voting shall be used in the re-unified Republic of Cyprus. The first elections shall be held January 1st, 2009.
IV. Citizenship shall be granted to any Turkish immigrant who arrived on the island on or before December 31st, 2000, as well as those born on the island in the meantime. All Turkish immigrants who arrived after December 31st, 2000 shall return to Turkey.
2. The EU shall not recommence procedures for the admission of Turkey into the European Union until such time as the island of Cyprus is reunified.

(Votes, Yes = 8 No = 14)


Treaties:
Treaty of Luxembourg

I. Votes are reapportioned every 10 years based on the mechanism in the Treaty of Nice and the EU census, starting January 1st, 2010.
II. New member states shall initially get a number of votes and index of population equal to the nation closest to them in population, until votes are reapportioned at the end of the decade.
III. No more than 2 new members shall be admitted in any 4-year period, starting with the 4 year period commencing on January 1st of the year following the ratification of this treaty.
IIII. The number of commissioners in the European Commission shall be equal to the number of member states in the European Union. Each member state shall appoint one commissioner.
V. New member states shall enter into the European Union on January 1st of the year following the ratification of an admission treaty.

Spain says hey guys.

NPC EU Nations are here.

Germany is here and ready for business.

We shall start discussion immediatly, member nations can add their voice when they arrive.

Firstly we believe the issue of Cyprus should be discussed. Germany is of no doubt that something must be done to solve this issue which we fear may soon escalate.

Germany believes it is time for Turkey to withdraw from Cyprus and return the land to those it righfully belongs to. It is obviously the EU's obligation to assist in the transfer process to ensure a peaceful hand over.

We move that if Turkey does not withdraw from Cyrpus and allow for the unification of the island under the independent Republic's banner we should not allow Turkish membership to proceed.

The Republic of Cyrpus seconds this motion.

Other NPC nations will reserve votes until debate has been made

Turkey:

We will be implementing a few more reforms this year, but don’t expect much in 2007 from us because:

1 – We’ll have turbulent domestic politics due to double elections.
2 – We made so many reforms in past few years that our society is reform-saturated. We need some time for the reforms on paper to percolate into the society. So we need time.
3 – EU’s incoherent opinions (amongst its members) and inability to keep up with its promises (lifting the blockade of TRNC) regarding our country caused a huge decrease in EU’s approval ratings here. If we continue at this speed without giving EU time to understand and respect our sensitivities, very soon the popular opinion towards EU will be negative. So you need time.

In the light of these reasons, this year we’ll be doing reforms only in a few areas which has not seen any reform so far. In already reformed areas we’ll let the dust settle before implementing further reforms. We hope to resume the reforms in all areas next year, immediately after the burocracy of elections are sorted out.

We are deeply concerned that if EU does not please the Turkish public with a positive gesture until the elections in November, our citizens might elect an anti-EU and/or conservative government, which we assume you would not like. We don’t expect a positive gesture, such as opening direct trade with TRNC, to be executed as a unanimous EU policy, given that member countries disagree on the subject. But if the gesture comes from multiple member countries, especially the more prominent ones, it is likely to be viewed as EU majority’s constructive effort to the Cyprus problem. This would greatly help persuade the EU-opposers in our public that EU aims international cooperation rather than economic conquest of Turkey.

Turkey is not allowed in ok. This isn't the kids club.

Tyrion said:

Firstly we believe the issue of Cyprus should be discussed. Germany is of no doubt that something must be done to solve this issue which we fear may soon escalate.

Click to expand...

Turkey agrees.

Germany believes it is time for Turkey to withdraw from Cyprus and return the land to those it righfully belongs to. It is obviously the EU's obligation to assist in the transfer process to ensure a peaceful hand over.

We move that if Turkey does not withdraw from Cyrpus and allow for the unification of the island under the independent Republic's banner we should not allow Turkish membership to proceed.

Click to expand...

We refuse to be held responsible for abrasive behavior of the Greek Cypriots. It is worldwide knowledge that the ones opposing the unification of Cyprus is the South Cyprus Greek Administration, while Turkey, Greece, TRNC, and UN all worked hard for a solution.

EU escalated the problem by supporting SCGA's unconciliatory agenda by declering that they would join the union no matter how they behave (or misbehave) regarding the unification. EU still escalates the problem by embargoing TRNC for its willingness to unify, and by siding with SCGA for their insistance on keeping the island divided.

The Cyprus problem is complex in many levels, and requires very long deliberations between the two sides, just as was done before the UN plan SCGA rejected. Rash declerations, like this most recent one by Germany, achieves nothing but harm the process of looking for a solution.

Although the Cyprus Peace Force was the only reason the island has been at peace in for the past 3 decades. Besides, the UN plan that SCGA rejected also called its removal. Apparently SCGA don't want that either.

As we see no guarantee that SCGA will not confiscate the rights of people of TRNC as they did violently in 60s and 70s, it is our moral obligation to maintain the Cyprus Peace Force.

OOC: Too bad both Greece and Cyprus are NPCs.
OOC: I would really enjoy to continue this one, but real life matters call.

OOC: Luxembourg checking in. Please correct the spelling of my username in the first post: it's jalapeno_dude.

IC: Luxembourg believes that steps towards membership must be made by the applying country, not by the EU. If an applicant wants to be admitted into the EU, it must voluntarily take the steps necessary to join.

8 of the 33 acquis chapters (1,3,9,11,13,14,29,30) have been frozen due to Turkey's refusal to cooperate with them. Chapters 8 and 20 are also still open.

It is clear that much more effort unilateraly on Turkey's part, including a recognition of and trade treaty with the rightful government of Cyprus, is needed before the EU can seriously consider admitting it into the union. Until then, the EU should discuss more pressing matters.

The UK is signing in. Long live the Queen!

Resolution 1: Luxembourg proposes that the EU apply for observer organization status in the OIC, given the large Muslim population in Europe and the EU's increasing role in the world.

OOC: Are we using the proportional voting system? If so, you should probably add this chart to the first post, with the additions of Romania (14 votes) and Bulgaria (10 votes).

Croatia wants to ratify her membership by 2009 at least. In our opinion Turkey shouldnt be allowed in Europe, because mainly it's not in Europe. It has a miniscule amount of land in Europe.

Compared to Turkey, Croatia has made much progress--it seems likely that it will meet all requirements of the acquis by 2008. The ratification process could then begin. However, the EU needs to either adopt the Constitution, which unfortunately seems unlikely, or draft a new treaty permitting more than 27 members. This treaty should be ratified in 2009, after which the accession of Croatia is a possibility.

Turkey is in NATO however, the "North Atlantic" Treaty Organization. Location matters very little in this case, as part of Turkey DOES lie within Europe and they are one of the few Muslim countries (secular or not) that we can align ourselves with.

That being said, this issue of Cyprus stands in the way. Being in the EU is a privelage, not a right. Turkey must stand down on this. There is no more reason for them to hold the land that they do, which was originally taken in response to Greece was it not? We are supposed to be allies here, not enemies.

Italy wishes to vote in favor of allowing Croatia & Macedonia into the EU, and agrees with the Luxembourg representative about achieving observer status within the OIC.

Azale said:

Italy wishes to vote in favor of allowing Croatia & Macedonia into the EU

Click to expand...

While the delgation from Luxembourg does not disagree with Italy, due process must be followed. The acquis still needs to be approved, which will require some more minor legislation from Croatia. It may be approved as soon as the end of this year, but it has not yet been approved.

More importantly, the framework of the EU at this time does not permit any more than the current 27 members to be admitted.

To change this, Luxembourg proposes Resolution 2: that a working group be formed to consider possible amendments to the sections of the Treaty of Nice regarding relative voting weights and the size of the European Commission, to report to the Council of the European Union by January 1st, 2008.

Luxembourg further proposes that the Council of the European Union vote on a possible solution sometime in 2008, so that a treaty can be drafted by the end of 2008. The treaty can then be ratified in 2009, and, providing that Croatia and Macedonia meet the acquis requirements, they can then be admitted.

OOC: Just trying to do things like in RL. Basically, there are two obstacles to further expansion. First, the Treaty of Nice specifies that when the number of member states exceeds 27, the number of commissioners must be reduced below 27. This can simply be removed. Second, the Treaty of Nice sets the current number of votes for each member state, which continues to be controversial, as it uses population size but then inserts a significant fudge factor so that smaller states have disproportionately high numbers of votes and so France and Germany have the same number of votes. There are lots of different ways to give Croatia and Macedonia votes--giving them same number of votes as member states with similar populations, permanently redoing the number of votes for each member state, establishing a procedure to update the number of votes for each member state with regard to censuses taken once every 2/5/10/etc years, completely changing the voting system, etc.

UK feels that turkey should not be in the EU. Turkey is already in the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the NATO (when this thread gets up).

ooc really do you want them in. They are dirty and they smell. (jk)

Sheep, could we get NPC votes on my two proposals (bolded in posts 13 and 17)?

For your first proposal everyone votes YES.

For your second proposal they are still debating it.