ANALYSIS ON THE EUROPEAN UNION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

ANALYSIS ON THE EUROPEAN UNION - Essay Example A Commissioner can be responsible for policy areas that belong to different DGs. Cabinet portfolios are basically function-based. National officials are invited by the Commission to participate on expert and advisory committees in the preparatory stages of a policy process. They attend as area experts, and do not formally represent their governments (Docksey and Williams, 1997, p. 141). Interest group participation is functionally based. The geographical principle is apparent in several respects. At the apex of the organization, the College of Commissioners is comprised of persons proposed by the member governments. They are served by personal secretariats that are composed of compatriots of the respective commissioners. For the Commission services, the recruitment of officials is drawn from national quotas but merit criteria is also applied. The EU has 27 member countries. ... (since 2004-05-01), Lithuania (since 2004-05-01), Luxembourg (EUR), Malta (since 2004-05-01) (EUR: 2008-01-01), the Netherlands (EUR), Poland (since 2004-05-01),Portugal (EUR), Romania (since 2007-01-01),Slovakia (since 2004-05-01) (EUR: 2009-01-01), Slovenia (since 2004-05-01) (EUR) , Spain (EUR), Sweden (since 1995-01-01) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. III. Economic Total Value of Trade The EU has a tremendous trading partnership with various countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP). The total value of EU trade with the ACP countries reached approximately 80 billion for 2007. The breakdown of trade transactions reflected figures of EU importation worth 40.2 billion and EU export figures of 39.7 billion. For the African countries, the EU is their largest trading partner.In terms of trade composition, the profile of key products which are currently traded are as follows: the ACP countries export petroleum (42% of total exports), cocoa beans, (5%) and diamonds (5%). The EU exports machinery (22%), oil (11%), vehicles (7%), boats (7%), and medicines (3%). The EU also poured considerable foreign direct investment to the ACP countries which had increased from 1,922 million in 1996 to 4,319 million in 2002. This value of investment represents approximately 3.3% share out of the total investment outflows of the EU.In terms of foreign direct investment breakdown, foreign dirext investment flows to ACP Africa peaked from 1,532 million in 1995 to 2,799 million in 2002. Hence, the ACP has increasingly become a destination for investment by the EU.According to EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson (2008), the continued prosperity of Europe hinges on business certainty, tariff predictability,