Guide to the European Union

by Dick Leonard

This revised and updated edition of the best-selling guide to the workings of the European Union is invaluable for anyone who wants to understand how the EU has developed and how it works: How the institutions and committees work both in theory and in practiceWhere the money for the EU comes from and where it goesFacts and figures about the bureaucracyThe single market and what it means for businessThe effects and implications of monetary and economic union and a single currencyThe political considerations that will determine the character and size of the European Union in the future.Every sphere of EU activity from workers' and women's rights to fishing and farming

Now in its ninth edition, "The Economist Guide to the European Union" is well established as the most clear and comprehensive guide to how the EU operates. For everyone who lives and works in the EU--and for others who do business with EU countries--there is no better source of reference.

Genres: Economics, History, Nonfiction, Politics

342 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2003

Reviews

[Littlepudding · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for one of my courses in college. Its a really good book for anyone who wants a general overview of the European Union. Its detailed enough for the reader to get a general picture, but not so much that you will get bored easily. As its tells you the progress and treaties and all, but not in heavy detail. For myself, when I had to write an academic essay on the topic of the Internal Market, it gave me great starting points and a general idea of the developments in the area throughout the years.

But one must be aware of the fact that, it was in 2005 and the EU have changed much since then! Nevertheless the beginning of the ECC and treaties are still true

[Emerson Banez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a short overview I picked up to give the EU law classes I'm taking some context. First major point: I get the impression that the institutional arrangements are overengineered - but that's okay. A lot of good stuff, like the software that runs your phone, or the financial contracts that fund your country, or the Large Hadron Collider - are complex. We balk at additional points of articulation (like an assymetrically-related Bangsamoro, or ASEAN economic integration), because we can't shoehorn them into our neat pre-existing models. But conceptual neatness is overrated. Development requires us to either change towards greater levels of complexity or die stupid. Second major point: every chapter says something like "but the UK...", "except the UK...", "however, the UK..." The history of the EU is the history of the UK's reluctance/hostility towards the project.

[Void lon iXaarii · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished it a few months ago so it's not super fresh but before i forget some quick impressions:
- felt statist through and through, with high beliefs in influencing reality by committe and changing the world through centralized control and good intentions put into laws (even though in practice they often result in the opposite of the desired effects, something the book fails to mention)
- still since this is all a reality it was educational to hear about a lot of the EU stuff. The web is much more tangled and complex than one would think at first glance.
- even though the book was quite boring and bureaucratic, had to force myself to finish it.

[Tarmo Tali · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to enjoy your sausage you should not know how it's made. If you want to live happily in EU you should not read this book. It's good book, although you end up loosing any faith (if there was one to begin with) in EU. This book is concise and unemotional description of industrial scale money burning furnace of EU bureaucracy with endless stream of treaties, reports, programs, commissions etc. which are all terribly important and mandatory for everyone in EU until it no longer suits for France or Germany (when it needs to be remade or it's exception). Very disturbing reading.

[Nobody Significant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very informative guide to European Union history, and it's inner machinations. The only problems I've had with this book were:

1) As you'd expect from the Economist, it was somewhat dry. If you're expecting a good story, I'd state the obvious - not a book for that.

2) It's a bit outdated. Not by much, but it was written before Brexit, and talks about Brexit only as a concept, not a real event.

Other than that, it's a good entry book to EU!

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Published in 2005, this guide is way out of date. There is some interesting information on the EU, and although I thought the discussion of the UK in the EU was a bit much, it makes sense as this is for UK readers and, as subsequent events made clear, the UK and its tortured relationship with Europe is a defining part of the EU’s struggles. Not the fault of the book, but it is just too old to be useful.

[Gemma Brand-Wolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean... this is a boring book, but I got what I wanted and what I expected. There were so many names and dates, it was a bit hard to keep track, but I don't know how this could have been written to solve that. Perhaps a timeline at the beginning would have been nice.

[Bookworm Amir · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit too technical AND historical.