Membership to the EU and Loss of Sovereignty

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Matthew Burgess

Shape of the Modern World (Political History) - Task 6

After previous vetoed applications in 1961 and 1967 to what was then known as the European Economic Community (ECC), Britain was finally allowed to join the European Union (EU) in 1973 after becoming a signatory to the Treaty of Rome, under Labour Prime Minister Edward Heath. Since this however, some critics have argued that membership to the EU has led to a significant loss of parliamentary sovereignty. The term sovereignty refers to the right of a state to pass laws within its own territory or as Hinsley (1966) described, “The idea that there is a final and absolute authority in the political community”. In this case, it could be the belief of some people that too much power has been transferred from our government to the EU – an organisation made up of mainly appointed representatives as oppose to being elected.

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It is the case that EU law overrides national law when the two conflict. This alone could show a ceding of sovereignty and as a supranational organisation the EU is more focused on working towards greater integration than national interest. Despite this surrendering of power to a higher authority, the EU only becomes the supreme decision making body in specified areas, although areas of national law could be affected without intention. For example, EU environmental decisions may indirectly impact agricultural law in some countries. Pro-Europeans who don’t believe that membership to the EU results in Britain losing sovereignty however ...

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4/5 This is a good essay. It makes a number of relevant points, communicates a good amount of information, and is well written. It would benefit from a stronger structure and argument communicated in the introduction and throughout. It could also benefit from more detailed consideration of the meaning of sovereignty, and potential benefits of surrendering or pooling it (and, which it is in the case of the EU).