The progress of my academic paper

I have to admit that I have not written a lot so far but I have collected a lot of useful sources and also made an outline of how I am going to structure my academic paper. I have to say that these steps have been easier than I had imagined. I was a little bit afraid that I would not find useful information for my topic or, more precisely, my concern was that there would not be academic sources that are suitable for my topic. I was really relieved, when I realized that there is actually exactly that information on the internet that I needed. One problem that I came across while looking for sources was that I did not find any academic sources for my chapter regarding Denmark and its relationship to the euro. By now, I have found some sources that could be useful for me but I am still looking for better options. So in case you come across an academic paper or something similar on this topic, I would be really thankful if you let me know (:  Regarding the structure of my paper, I enjoyed making an outline and planning how my paper should be organized. I am confident that my plan will help me a lot when I turn my bits and pieces of information into well written paragraphs. I am looking forward to doing this and hope that the choice of language won’t be too much of a challenge.  

EU group paragraph

The European Council

The European Council plays an important role in setting a general political direction for the European Union. This institution, which meets at least four times a year, is composed of the Heads of State or Government of the Member States, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council. The President of the European Council, currently Herman Van Rompuy, is elected for two and a half years and can be re-elected once. He is responsible for coordinating the work of the European Council and ensures that decisions are put into practice. The decisions are made by consensus: a concept or an idea has to be accepted by every voter or by the qualified majority depending on the nature of the treaty. In some cases decisions are reached by unanimity, which means that every Head of State or Government needs to agree.  If someone does not approve, the change cannot come into force. Although the European Council is not a legislative body, thus not allowed to pass laws, it is still very important since it sets priorities and debates sensitive issues.

My top five

Welcome to my blog for this semester! My first post is going to be about my choice of 5 EU-related topics. Our task was to decide on 5 topics which are in some way related to the EU and explain why we think they are interesting. This should help us to decide on one topic we want to write our SUK3 paper about. Since the EU is a very complex topic I think this is a great idea and will help us to find one aspect of the EU we are really interested in.

These are my top five:

Currencies of the EU

When we talked about what the first thing is that comes to mind when you think about the EU, a lot of people said the euro and as a reason that it is the currency of the EU. But that is not exactly true, is it? The euro is the principal currency since it is adopted by 17 EU members as their common currency but there are 12 other currencies within the EU. However, all of the remaining states have to adopt the euro too once they meet the criteria to do so. Except for the United Kingdom and Denmark, which have a de facto permission to keep their currencies. And that is where it is getting interesting. Why are the UK and Denmark allowed to keep their own currencies and what is the advantage of it?

The Erasmus Program

This is probably a topic all of us are interested in since a lot of us are planning on spending a semester abroad. Thanks to the Erasmus program it is less complicated to study abroad since you do not have to pay fees to the foreign university and you even receive financial aid. For these and a lot more reasons I would like to find out more about Erasmus, its history and how it is working exactly.

Schengen Treaty and Schengen Area

This is also one topic we came across while talking in class. I think it is a really interesting topic because probably all of us have already heard about the Schengen Treaty but only a few really know what it is about. It is the same with the states that signed the treaty and are therefore members of the Schengen Area. When I think about the EU member states I am not exactly sure which ones are in the Schengen Area. That is why I am interested in finding out more about the Schengen Treaty and its members.

The EU youth conference

A friend told me about this topic and I instantly thought that it is really interesting and that I would like to know more about it. I have heard about it before but I never concerned myself with it. That is why I choose it as one of my topics. The idea of teenagers between the age of 15 and 28 who are attending at a meeting once a year and discussing serious issues about the youth in the EU really appeals to me. I think it would be fascinating to get deeper into this topic.

EU Nobel Peace Prize

In 2012 the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This was a sensation within the EU countries. But what were the reasons that the EU was honored with it? It goes without saying that the EU plays an important role for the long period of peace but why exactly is the EU that important? I am sure that a lot of research would be necessary to really understand what the EU achieved to earn the Nobel Peace Prize but it would certainly pay off.