Stakeholder #2

Uniting Europe under one flag: The European Union

Dahlstrom, Hakan. "European Union Flag" 7/6/2010 via flickr.

The European Union is a union of 28 European Countries across the continent. The European Union was founded in the shadow of World War II, the largest global crisis of our history. Previously, Europe was plagued by infighting between the countries and a struggle for power that proved to be the catalyst for the Second World War. In 1958, Europe came together under the European Economic Community to encourage trade and cooperation between Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Previously, trade within Europe was almost nonexistent due to heavy tariffs and rules when trading across borders, making it essentially worthless to trade with one another. The EU took democracy to a level beyond a single country’s government. Through debate and democratic policy-making by all membership countries, the EU represented something never possible before, the unity of Europe. Another accomplishment of the European Union is establishing a unified currency known as the Euro. The Euro made trade even more possible by getting rid of a complex economy where every country has a different currency that each have their own worth in the global economy. The European Union also established open borders within their countries allowing for open travel, trade, and work throughout all the countries. By removing border controls, the Europe that once feuded and experienced massive cultural differences, is now united and working together for a better and brighter future on planet Earth.

One specific claim made by a Eurozone country is by Kevin Featherstone, an expert on Greece at the London School of Economics in Britain, "They've developed a narrative of, We can have our cake and eat it. We can be in the Eurozone and end austerity." Another claim made by the countries within the European Union is Pierre Moscovici who is EU's top economic official saying "Greece should stay in Euro... The door is still open for negotiations." A final quote is by Nigel Farage, a member of the European Parliament who said to Greece, "Your moment has come... lead the Greek people out of the euro zone with your head held high."

These claims are somewhat valid. The reason being that they are not 100% valid is that they are all opinion based on a situation that is impossible to tell how it will end due to the complexity of economics. These claims are relatively similar to other stakeholders considering  that many countries are either against or for Greece being in the European Union and even Greece is split on the decision to stay within the European Union or to leave and adopt the Drachma.