European Governments and the European Union- Final

European Governments and the European Union Author's Name The Institutional Affiliation Course Number and Name Instructor Name Assignment Due Date Introduction The European Union and NATO are prime examples of the political and security integration of nations and cooperation between them in international relations. The EU sought to bring European nations closer by creating shared economic and political links, preventing possible major conflict in the future (Costa & Brack, 2018). NATO fulfilled the security requirements of these European nations with a collective security doctrine. Both unions are facing a daunting issue in contemporary times. EU is witnessing a surge in right-wing politics and nationalism, mainly in Central and Eastern states, threatening to block integration. Similarly, NATO is facing the issue of changing American attitudes towards it because of the American policy shift towards the Indo-Pacific (Bloomberg, 2024). As the primary donor and military support provider, the US' changing vision threatens the alliance's future amid the Ukraine War. Therefore, both organizations have to formulate a policy to avoid further intensifying current issues and secure the future of both unions. Origin And Current Issues Face The Organizations NATO: Its Origin and Current Issue NATO originated in 1949 to counter the Soviet threat after the end of WWII. The US took Western Europe under its nuclear umbrella through the alliance to deter the USSR (Lansford, 2018). It successfully achieved its goal by preventing the USSR from any military misadventure. Later, this organization witnessed a rapid expansion in 1999 and 2004 and expanded to almost Europe (NATO, 2024). NATO is facing the issue of the US's eroding commitment to the alliance. Traditionally, it has been the organization's primary military and economic backbone. However, since China's rise as a strategic threat, the US has shifted its resources to the Indo-Pacific region (Schnaufer II, 2022). This shift was visible during the presidency of Donald Trump. He was vocal against the European allies over burden sharing and has threatened to discontinue military support for the organization if he returns to the White House in the next elections (Bloomberg, 2024). Thus, the declining US support is a major challenge for NATO. European Union: Its Origin and Current Issue The European Union originated in the early 1950s with the signing of the European Coal and Steel Community. After its success, the coal and steel community was expanded through the Treaty of Rome in 1957, which created the European Economic Commission (Costa & Brack, 2018). Afterward, the significant development came in 1993 when member states signed the Treaty of Maastricht, in which the foundation of the EU was laid in the form of a single unified currency, the Euro (European Central Bank, 2024). The EU has kept evolving since the Treaty of Maastricht through improvements in governance and structure. The EU has formulated basic instructions and made them mandatory in member states' constitutions. For this reason, Romania amended its constitution based on the Fifth French Republic in October 2003 to join the Union (Anonymous, n.d /b). After the amendment, the Romanian government applied and eventually joined the block. These instructions bring all member states into alignment for better policy application. Antonina Bakardjieva et al. (2020) defined the most daunting challenge faced by the EU as the return of supremacy of nation-states. Since the fall of 2015, the situation in the EU has changed since the block adopted the refugee policy. The influx of refugees from the Middle East led to heated debates and eventually portrayed the fault lines in the organization. Due to national security concerns, the Polish Parliament refused to ...