Thatcher, Fischer, and Schumann, Research Paper Example

Margaret Thatcher had many interesting ideas in terms of her vision for European integration due to her experience as prime minister during one of the most significant set of changes in Europe since the end of the Cold War. In 1973 she was a big supporter of the accession of the United Kingdom to the European community and in 1975 she voted yes in the British referendum meeting on membership. She was a major driving force behind Europe’s Single Market, which minimized financial barriers between the European states and enabled increased trade. The specific barriers that this policy removed included the borders, standards, and taxes involved in physical trading between European countries. In addition, her beliefs and values even before the Cold War favored the eastward expansion of the European Union; before the end of the Cold War, she spoke of the Iron Curtain and the countries that were cut off from the rest of Europe in terms of politics and economy.

Thatcher also resisted the creation of a European superstate. In 1988, she conducted a speech in Bruges that provided alternatives to this concept. She believed that creating a political union among members of the continent would be an issue and instead preferred to enhance nationhood for the individual countries and focus on cooperation between the states. Overall, Thatcher believed that Europe will be stronger if each country focuses on their strengths and maintain their sovereignty; ultimately this will help improve the continent’s economy and help it recover from the issues brought on by the Cold War.

In May 2000, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer delivered a speech entitled “From Confederacy to Federation – Thoughts on the Finality of European Integration” at Humboldt University. He explores the idea of a European Federation and how the nation-states would continue to play a significant role. The idea European integration was developed to address the uneven balance of powers that was present and led to a series of wars including the World Wars. He explains that the Cold War there has ushered in an era of globalization; the problems that are facing Europe are plenty and they can be solved by banning the countries of the nation together which begins with the introduction of a common currency.

Fischer continues to explain the future problems that are facing Europe including “the EU’s incipient eastern enlargement, the crisis of the last EU Commission, the limited acceptance of the European Parliament, and the low turnouts in European elections, the wars in the Balkans, and the development of a common foreign and security policy”. He supports Robert Schuman’s statement that was made in 1963 and quoted it in his speech, “We must build the united Europe not only in the interest of the free nations, but also in order to be able to admit the peoples of Eastern Europe into this community if, freed from the constraints under which they live, they want to join and seek our moral support. We owe them the example of a unified, fraternal Europe. Every step we take along this road will mean a new opportunity for them. They need our help with the transformation they have to achieve. It is our duty to be prepared.” Fisher believes this is still true and all nations in Europe have the right to be a part of the integration and profit from it.

Fischer states that the three most essential processes in this reform are to ensure that regulation of currency, internal security, and external security are the sole responsibility of a European institution for the first time. These three factors bind the individual nations of Europe and should allow cooperation in many aspects.

French Foreign Minister Robert Schumann wrote the Schuman Declaration of 1950 which was a governmental proposal to join the states of Europe into a “supranational community”. The purpose of this agreement was mainly for the states to develop a uniform set of laws that would define aspects of justice. Schumann noticed the need for this during the events that occurred following World War II; although many countries wished to persecute individuals for war crimes, the differences in laws between them made capturing and bringing these individuals to trial more difficult.

The goal of this document would be to bring democracy to Europe in general in addition to a society-controlled Eastern Europe in order to help developing countries and trying to help world peace. The first step of this would be for France, Italy, West Germany and the Benelux countries to collaborate in able to make war both unthinkable and impossible. This worked in creating the European Coal and Steel community in addition to the Treaty of Paris. This document was important to the move towards European integration because this was the first legal action towards its implementation.

Although these ideas all deal with European integration, the three proposals by Thatcher, Fischer, and Schumann are entirely different. Margaret Thatcher opposed the idea of European integration in terms of political ideas and instead chose to approve legislation that would increase the economies of European countries. Despite this, she opposed the idea of the Euro because this would be handing power over to a central agency. In this sense, Margaret Thatcher’s policies can be seen as anti-European. Although this is an intense term because Thatcher clearly supported the union of European countries in some aspects, she completely rejected the type of union that other thinkers of her time generally accepted and what is currently accepted by the European Union today.

In contrast, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer is a complete supporter of adopting a common currency. His views are similar to those that are currently being enacted by the European Union today. Instead of a strict union where the different countries of the European continents aren’t discernible, he instead supports shared currency, internal security, and external security. This policy is more pro-European because it encourages cooperation between the countries. Schumann has similar views on establishing a European Union, however he focuses more on establishing a common set of laws that all of the European nations would follow. While this is a pro-European idea, it’s not as dramatic as Fisher’s and yet Thatcher would completely oppose this idea depending upon which laws it would create.

The end goal for European Integration is to enhance the power of Europe overall. Despite this, many individuals disagree with how this should be done. As demonstrated above, different powerful individuals from different nations believe that the end goal of European integration includes establishing common currency, political policies, and internal and external security. We have recently seen how implementing the Euro has negatively impacted Europe’s economy. If one country in the union has a faltering economy, the other economies will be affected, such as the economic trouble that occurred as a result of Greece’s economic troubles. Since then, their economy has made a steady comeback and it’s essential to consider the positives of having a shared mode of currency. One of the major advantages of this is that it’s easier to trade between nations with the same currency. However, the plan that Margaret Thatcher promoted would establish this ease without a need for the nations to adopt a common currency. Therefore, the best way to integrate the countries in Europe and thus strengthen this part of the world’s power is to enact policies that promote the economy and made trade easier in addition to establish common laws that dictate what should occur to protect the other nations who have become involved in military aggression. These laws should include other modes of external and internal security policies as well. Overall, European integration should focus on protecting the economic, military, and social interests of the states without infringing upon the sovereignty of the individual nations.