European Union

Summary

Economic development can be defined as the ability of countries or regions to create wealth in order to promote and sustain prosperity and economic and social welfare of its inhabitants. The EU is the world's leading economic power, surpassing the United States .According to the IMF for 2006 , the GDP (nominal) of Europe is 13.926.873.000.000 $ (the U.S. is 13.228.391.000.000 $). Which makes the GDP (nominal) per capita of the EU in 2006 is $ 29,899 (in the U.S. is $ 44,168).

At the end of World War II, the economies of the countries of Europe were virtually destroyed, the traditional European hegemony in the world. The two new superpowers: both the United States (U.S.) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) had economic power superior to that of all the European states. In order to help the economic recovery of Europe and thus prevent its western part fell into the communism (Toje, 2010). The United States developed the Marshall Plan , a financial aid plan that began in 1948 and ended in 1951 and contributed more than 12,700 million to various European countries (mainly UK , France , Germany , Italy and Netherlands ).

The Paris Treaty (1951) established the European Steel and Coal Community, the cornerstone of economic development of the European Union (EU) since then has continued to consolidate to make the union in the first commercial power, because it currently represents 20% of global imports and exports. After the ECSC began liberalizing trade among its members, which is the key to the success of the EU (Marsh & Rees, (2012).

It was between the 1950s and 1970s when it experienced a period with a strong and sustained economic growth that ended the 1973 oil crisis. Once this crisis, the European states turned to economic growth, but never ...