European Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

European Business - Essay Example The most important institutions of EU are the Council of the European Union, European Commission, and the Court of Justice of the European Union, European Council and the European Central bank. These institutions play a vital role in ensuring that the policies and matters affecting the EU member states are taken care of (Nelson et al. 2012 P.1-5). Apart from the growth of EU member states, the Union has also undergone a number of significant changes since its formation in 1957. The most important changes, which have been witnessed, are the Single European Act of February 1986 and the Maastricht Treaty of February 1992, which led to the establishment of the Euro. The objective of this paper is to explore the importance of the Single European Act of February 1986 and the Maastricht Treaty of February 1992 and their impacts on the UK economy and business. The Current Problems in the Eurozone and the Response of EU Institutions The Eurozone has faced a lot of challenges over the recent y ears. For instance, what begun as a debt crisis in Greece towards the end of 2009 has evolved as a big economic crisis in Eurozone, which has threatened the economic stability in Europe and the world at large. In fact, some economic analyst views the Eurozone as the biggest threat to the economy of the United States according to Nelson et al. (2012 p.1). At least four major problems related to economic challenges have been identified with the Eurozone. These include weakness in the European banking system, high levels of debts and public deficit in Eurozone nations, persistent trade imbalances within Eurozone and the economic recession as well as high rates of unemployment in Eurozone countries. High level of public debts in Eurozone countries (periphery) The problem of high level of debts in some Eurozone countries has raised a lot of concerns as to whether these countries will default on these debts. These concerns arose after high debt levels in some countries in Eurozone periphe ry increased immediately after joining the eurozone over the past decade followed by the global financial meltdown of 2008-2009, which further strained the public finance. As a result, the worst affected countries such as Ireland, Greece and Portugal had to be bailed out by the Eurozone governments and IMF in order to pay off these debts. However, even after the bailout, a country like Greece is still seeking for ‘haicuts’(losses on bonds held by private creditors. Portugal is also argued to be considering restructuring its debt. Italy and Spain are also grappling with the problems of debts, which have seen many investors becoming increasingly nervous (Nelson et al. 2012 p.2-4). Secondly, weakness in the Eurozone banking system is raising a lot of concerns about the levels of public debts. The ongoing concerns regarding the crisis have triggered capital flight from banks among some Eurozone nations, and some banks are now reported to be experiencing a lot of difficultie s to borrow in capital markets. Furthermore, analysts argue that European banks have insufficient capital to absorb losses on their holdings of autonomous bonds in case any of the Eurozone country defaults (Nelson et al. 2012 p.2-4). The third problem experienced by the Eurozone concerns lack of growth and high unemployment in Eurozone member states. For instance, A survey conducted by the IMF in January 2012 downgraded the