Introduction
The coexistence of the countries in the world and in the European community has always been a complicated matter involving political, economic, social, and cultural aspects. The post-World War II global community felt the eternal need of security and mutual protection against any military or economic threat. Thus, the creation of the European Union might be considered as a step towards solving the issues of structuring the cooperation between the European countries and providing their mutual security in all aspects with the special emphasis on the economic sphere. The role of Ireland in the European Union, as well as the impact of the EU on Ireland, has also long been the subject of scholarly and publicist attention, and this paper aims at finding out the major results of the interaction between the European Union and Ireland.
Ireland in the European Economic Community and European Union
Background Information
To begin with, it is necessary to state the European Union is a relatively young organization that was founded in 1993. Its predecessor was the European Economic Community that existed from its establishment in 1958 till the transformation to the currently developing European Union (Bomberg et al., 2008, p. 4). The main goal that was pursued by European Economic Community establishment was the development of cooperation and economic integration between European countries (Bomberg et al., 2008, p. 4). The emergence of the European Union in 1993 meant the desire of the European countries to integrate with each other not only in the economic but also in the political and social aspects of life. Currently, the European Union includes 27 countries that are united by joint goals and mutual interests and regulated by the single body of power referred to as the European Council (Bomberg et al., 2008, p. 7).
The history of Ireland’s attempts to join the European Economic Community, as it was called in the 1960s, is rather long and includes about 12 years of struggle, political negotiations, and referendum among the Irish people (Government of Ireland, 2009). It was July 1961 when Ireland first applied for membership in the European Economic Community but for negotiations to start it took over 2 years, and already in 1967 Ireland, along with Great Britain and Denmark, had to take the second joining attempt. Only the resignation of De Gaulle and the Summit of the European Council that took place in Hague in 1969 outlined the real perspectives for Ireland to become the part of the integrated Europe (Government of Ireland, 2009). After 3 years of negotiations, Ireland and the European Economic Community signed official joining agreement, and the referendum that took place in Ireland in May 1972 stated the Irish membership in the community as a legislatively supported fact (Government of Ireland, 2009).
Reasons for Joining the European Union
The major reasons that made the Irish government in the early 1960s seek support from the European Economic Community included the basic economic and social issues. According to the data provided by the Government of Ireland (2009), in the decade that preceded the application for the membership in the then formed European Economic Community Ireland experienced the hardest economic recession for the last 50 years and was almost the only country in Europe who population declined significantly because of the unemployment and outflow of people seeking for the better working and living conditions abroad (Government of Ireland, 2009; News Letter, 2009).
At the same time, the economy of Ireland on the merge of the 1950s and 1960s was almost exclusively agricultural (Government of Ireland, 2009). The country had no industrial facilities and no actual potential for agricultural modernization. The reasons for this included the small scope of the country’s economy and its export orientation. The Government of Ireland (2009) reports that in 1959 over 75% of the country’s export were directed to the United Kingdom and such a unidirectional economic policy was becoming more and more dangerous as in case of UK’s refusal to buy the Ireland-exported goods, the country’s economy was at risk of collapse (Government of Ireland, 2009).
Further on, the Irish Government of 1960s understood that the Great Britain was about to apply for membership in European Economic Community, and given such conditions the Irish economy, as the one greatly depending upon the UK resources, would have been in a disadvantaged position. Joining the European Community Great Britain would have gained access to the united European market with much wider opportunities for goods importing than from Ireland exclusively (Government of Ireland, 2009). Accordingly, to avoid the loss of the major export market and to gain the opportunity to expand it to other European countries, Ireland applied for the European Economic Community membership (Europa, 2001).
Drawing from the above discussion, the major reasons for Ireland to apply for the position in the European Economic Community included social, economic, and strategic interests. First, joining the EU Ireland aimed at gaining economic and social protection, reducing its unemployment rates, and stopping the population outflow from the country. Second, Ireland saw the European Economic Community membership as the opportunity to modernize the economy, update the agricultural sector, and receive a powerful impact towards industrial development. Finally, Ireland aimed at gaining new markets for its export-oriented economy that the European Economic Community membership was promising.
Major Interests in the European Union
The major interests that Ireland pursued while applying and joining the European Economic Community included economic, political, social, environmental, and health care aspects of the country’s development (Government of Ireland, 2009). This fact is simply explained by the data presented by Bomberg et al. (2008), as according to these authors the modern European Union has significant impact on the development of each of its member-countries in legislative, political, financial, economic, and health care spheres (p. 7).
For example, Bomberg et al. (2008) and Coulter (2009) argue that over a half of the legislative documents and acts are either connected or derived from the European Union norms. In respect of economy and finance, the European Union is viewed by Bomberg et al. (2008) as one of the world’s largest economies with its wealth amounting to one third of the total world’s wealth (pp. 7 – 8). Further on, the joint market that every member of the European Union has the access to amounts for over 500 million consumers and exceeds even the US-operated market. Accordingly, the European Union carries out about 20% of the total trading transactions carried out globally (Bomberg et al., 2008, p. 7). Drawing from this, the major interests pursued by Ireland in joining the EU included becoming the part of this powerful economic, political, and financial institution to provide its economy with powerful developmental impact.
In more detail, one of the prominent interests for Ireland in the European Union is to gain economic and financial protection, especially in the conditions of the current global recession. The Government of Ireland (2009) reports that the EU membership currently protects the country from the severe credit crunch and shields against the currency inflation processes by providing €5 billion of additional funding to every EU member-country (The Government of Ireland, 2009).
Further on, Ireland is interested in reducing its unemployment rates and the EU membership helps in achieving this goal by providing Ireland with greater employment opportunities abroad as well as with wider scope for international companies to work in Ireland (The Government of Ireland, 2009). Finally, the help of the European Union in solving the Northern Ireland dispute and bringing peace to the region is also one of the basic interests (Godson, 2004). Therefore, being a member of the European Union Ireland has two categories of interests, i. e. domestic and international ones, and each of the groups includes economic, social, and political aspects.
Ireland’s Position on Main European Union Issues
Being the committed member of the European Union, Ireland supports and promotes basic innovations that the EU brings to the relations between its country-members. As well, it is natural that there cannot be a complete agreement on all points, and Ireland also is involved in the controversy about EU-related issues. The points of common interest for the European Union and Ireland include the Common Agriculture Policy and the introduction and further development of Euro, the single currency for the majority of the EU members (Reuters, 2009; The Government of Ireland, 2009). The point of disagreement include the Constitution of the European Union (News Letter, 2009; The Government of Ireland, 2009).
In more detail, the Common Agriculture Policy was viewed in Ireland in 2003, the time when it was introduced, as the positive phenomenon for the country’s agriculture bringing the country over €12 billion for development in the period between 2007 and 2013. The Common Agriculture Policy was designed as the system of equal funding for agriculture in all EU countries. It is understandable that less developed agricultural countries, including Ireland, supported the idea, while the highly developed countries perceived it as the cutting of the agricultural funding for them. Drawing from this, it is natural that Ireland supported the Common Agriculture Policy.
As well, the country supported the introduction of the unified European currency, Euro, in the majority of the EU member-countries (Government of Ireland, 2009). It is understandable that Ireland work on this idea because the value of the Irish currency, the Irish pound, was not the highest among the European currencies. Euro, on the other hand, allowed Ireland to operate with a stable currency (Government of Ireland, 2009).
The EU Constitution is one of the points of disagreement between Ireland and the EU, as far as in Ireland adoption of the Constitution presupposes the public referendum and according to the Government of Ireland (2009) public attitudes towards this issue are predominantly negative. Therefore, the process of adoption of the new European Constitution is slowed down because of the Irish position in the issue.
European Union Impact on Ireland
Needless to say, membership in the European Union has considerable meaning for Ireland, and the above discussion reveals reasons for this. However, this membership also has impact on the country, and this impact is not always positive as the recent newspaper reports reveal. Thus, the obviously positive effects that the EU-membership currently has on Ireland include the help of the European community in settling the Northern Ireland issues (Godson, 2004; Government of Ireland, 2009) and the officially approved decision to prolong the term during which Ireland is to reduce its budget’s deficit to 3% (Reuters, 2009). The negative impacts of the EU-related policies on Ireland include the recently observed fall of prices in Ireland among other EU countries (The Associated Press, 2009) and the potential for another unemployment wave to cover Ireland in case if new agricultural policies are enforced in 2010 (News Letter, 2009).
In more detail, membership in the European Union allowed Ireland to settle the Northern Ireland conflict (Government of Ireland, 2009). The prominent role in this process was played by the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and the peace programs that the EU implemented in both Ireland and Northern Ireland. Barroso was the first international leader to personally attend and participate in negotiations that resulted in 1998 Good Friday peace treaty. The PEACE Programs and the EU INTERRAG IVA programs allowed both Ireland and Northern Ireland to restore mutual communication and provided €300 million to €1.65 billion on the health care and restoration needs of both countries (Government of Ireland, 2009). As well, the EU has recently adopted the decision to allow Ireland to proceed in reducing its budget deficit till the year 2014 (Reuters, 2009).
The above are positive impacts of the EU membership for Ireland, but there are also negative impacts as well. For example, The Associated Press (2009) reports the 0.1% prices decrease observed in Ireland among the bulk of the EU member-states. Specialists call this phenomenon the lasting effects of the economic recession and see its danger for the Irish economy arguing that without too close ties with the EU institutions Ireland might have recovered these effects faster. As well, the 2010-planned new EU agricultural policies, especially concerning the poultry sector, can cause unemployment in the country as such policies will make the poultry industry a seasonal job, and the workers will be unemployed during the rest of time (News Letter, 2009). Thus, it is obvious that the European Union membership has both positive and negative effects upon the economy, political, and social life of Ireland but the positive effects currently outweigh the negative ones making Ireland one of the most committed EU members.
Conclusions
Thus, all the above presented discussion of the interrelations between Ireland and the European Union reveals the fact that applying for EU membership Ireland pursued first of all its own financial, economic, and political interests, but was also ready to support reasonable European Union initiatives. The major interests that Ireland has as a member of the European Union include trade development, protection of the domestic economy, establishment of international trade ties, reduction of unemployment, and overall well being growth. Pursuing these goals and understanding the EU values were the main reasons for Ireland to join the community and currently drive Ireland in its support of the European Union policies.
Works Cited
Bomberg, Elizabeth, John Peterson and Alexander Stubb. The European Union: How does it work? Oxford University Press, USA; 2 edition, 2008. Print.
Coulter, Carol. Death Penalty Remarks Criticised. The Irish Times, 2009. Web.
Europa. EU Ready to Walk the Farm Liberalisation Walk. Belfast, 2001. Web.
Godson, Dean. Lessons from Northern Ireland for Arab-Israeli Conflict. JCPA, 2004. Web.
Government of Ireland. Information of the Irish State. EU Matters, 2009. Web.
News Letter. EU rules ‘put poultry jobs on the line’. Belfast Newsletter, 2009. Web.
Reuters. EU Mulls Extending Irish Deficit Cut Deadline. The New York Times, 2009. Web.
The Associated Press. A Look at Economic Developments around the Globe. The New York Times, 2009. Web.