7 - The European Union today: some achievements

Summary

Here I would like to stand back and look at the overall picture: what has the European Union achieved? What are its strengths and its weaknesses? How should it move forward?

The subject is of course very large, but I will concentrate primarily on the aspects of the rule of law and the role of the courts.

There is much that could be said about the achievements of the European Union. There is the single market. The free movement of persons – and not least the free movement of students, able to study in other Member States: a great asset on many counts. There are the achievements of many Community policies: the environmental policy; social policy; greater progress towards equal rights for men and women than would have been achieved nationally. Other policies have been less successful from a UK vantage point, although some might seek to defend them: the common agricultural policy and the common fisheries policy. There is the capacity of the Union to take a collective position in international negotiations, where it has far more influence than the Member States would have individually.

These are certainly significant achievements – not to mention the broader goals of peace and prosperity over a period of more than half a century.

From our present viewpoint, in terms of the rule of law, we see a Union based on law – indeed there is no other basis available.