European Journal of Scientific Research (ISSN: 1450 ... - EuroJournals
European Journal of Scientific Research (ISSN: 1450 ... - EuroJournals
European Journal of Scientific Research (ISSN: 1450 ... - EuroJournals
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26<br />
© <strong>European</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Scientific</strong> <strong>Research</strong>, Vol 7, No 5, 2005<br />
Council in 1989 agreed to establish a new Court <strong>of</strong> First Instance (CFI) to relieve the ECJ<br />
<strong>of</strong> its more trivial decisions. Other important EU institutions are the Court <strong>of</strong> Auditors,<br />
the Economic and Social Committee, and the <strong>European</strong> Investment Bank. (Middlemas,<br />
1995).<br />
SUCCESSES, PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES<br />
The EU is widely regarded as ,the model for regional economic integration. The EU's<br />
success in establishing a customs union and removing internal trade barriers has brought<br />
significant economic benefit to both the individual member states and to the EU as a<br />
whole. Today, the EU ranks as the largest trader among all WTO members and as such,<br />
can rightly be viewed as a 'global economic power' (Pelkmanas and Carzaniga, 1996).<br />
While the EU is advancing in the aspects <strong>of</strong> economic integration, it has frequently<br />
stalled on political and social integration decisions on a common foreign policy have<br />
proved particularly problematic. In facing its future, the EU will need to deal with both<br />
philosophical / political challenges and divisions between the states. The first challenge<br />
relates to the reluctance <strong>of</strong> the Member States to surrender their national sovereignty to<br />
the supranational organization <strong>of</strong> the EV. The second challenge relates to major<br />
demographic, geographical, political, and economic differences between Members. The<br />
population gap between the largest state _ Germany before unification, and the smallest<br />
state, Luxembourg - was more than 60 million. Despite the fact that the voting <strong>of</strong> French<br />
and the Dutch against the <strong>European</strong> Constitution may constitute a challenge to <strong>European</strong><br />
integration, I believe these challenges are minimal considering the successes EU has<br />
encountered.<br />
THE GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL<br />
In February 1981, the foreign ministers <strong>of</strong> the VAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman arid<br />
Saudi Arabia met in; Riyadh and unanimously agreed on the creation <strong>of</strong> the Gulf<br />
Cooperation Council (GCC) which aimed at fostering "cooperation and coordination<br />
among the six member states in all walks <strong>of</strong> life" (Furtig, 2004). The GCC Constitution<br />
establishes the "ultimate aim" <strong>of</strong> creating a confederal union amongst the six states and<br />
set the specific shorter-term (by the end <strong>of</strong> the 1980s) <strong>of</strong> establishing a customs union and<br />
forum for economic coordination. Thus, in its initial objectives, the GCC appears to be<br />
remarkably similar to the EU (as originally structured in the Treaty <strong>of</strong> Rome). There are<br />
also distinct parallels in the .way that the GCC states chose to focus on economic<br />
objectives as a means to achieve political and defense aims. On the other hand, if we<br />
examine the history and structure <strong>of</strong> the GCC, we see that it contrasts sharply with that <strong>of</strong><br />
the EU.<br />
One critical contrast,' which should be made clear at the outset <strong>of</strong> this comparison, is the<br />
relative homogeneity <strong>of</strong> the GCC member states versus those in the <strong>European</strong> Union.<br />
While the twenty five members <strong>of</strong> the EU must cope with different languages, different<br />
religions, different demographic structures, and divisions 'based on economics and social<br />
systems, the six GCC members enjoy a broad range <strong>of</strong> similarities. Among the GCC<br />
members there is a common language - Arabic, a common religion - Islam, dominated by<br />
a single sect - Sunni, cornparable social structures (including demographics), very similar