Unlock eSignature Legitimacy for Enterprises in European Union

How to eSign a document: e-signature legitimacy for enterprises in European Union

The European Union- the world's largest political structure, and the result of hundreds of years of negotiated alliances and trade agreements, but also the focus of intense criticism from an increasingly nationalistic Europe threatening to tear itself apart at the seams. On today’s episode of The Infographics Show, we ask, What if the EU didn’t Exist? The European Union has its roots in 1951, when six nations: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, joined together to create the European Coal and Steel Community. Six years later, with the signing of the Treaty of Rome, a common market was created for the member countries, making it easier for companies to move and sell their products outside of their home nations. In 1968, the Treaty of Rome was updated to eliminate custom duties and tariffs, standardizing trade and agriculture policies across each member nation. With goods being easily shipped to markets across Europe, and nations not having to worry about conflicting trade policies from their neighbors, Europe's economy began a historic boom which in the coming decades would see the Treaty of Rome evolve into the Treaty of Maastricht in 1993, wherein the European Union common market was established. What the Treaty of Rome had done for the manufacturing and energy industries of Europe, the Treaty of Maastricht would do for all other industry. Any good could now be shipped across Europe without having to pay various custom fees or tariffs, driving profit margins up and the cost of business down, stimulating economic growth across Europe. More nations would join the burgeoning European Union, until finally in 2009, the EU became formalized as a political institution via the Treaty of Lisbon, establishing a European Parliament attended to by representatives from each member state, and granting that parliament the power to negotiate and sign international treaties. The new EU would act as a continent-wide governing body, setting policy in areas such as border control, immigration, judicial and police cooperation. With supporters pushing for more, the EU stopped just short of establishing a European Constitution, which opponents claimed violated the sovereignty of member states. So what exactly does the EU do? Well, for starters it makes it easy for businesses to ship goods to markets across Europe by eliminating many fees and tariffs that they had to pay in the past. By lowering the cost of doing business, companies are encouraged to grow and invest in themselves, directly creating more jobs and wealth for the EU's member states. Britain, who is now considering leaving the EU, has seen wages grow faster over their US counterparts; though that value was affected by historical inflation, British economic growth was still on the whole 2.5 times greater than that experienced by the American economy, thanks to the lowered trade barriers provided by the EU. . The EU has also eliminated the need for individual passports and visas from travelers, with Europeans able to get a common European Passport and able to travel to any other member state without any need for a visa. This has dramatically decreased the cost of travel for Europeans and opened up each nation's borders to tourists, students, and entrepreneurs. Today a European can book a flight from London to Berlin for an astonishing $17, while in America a flight from New York to Washington D.C. can run you on average $350- that's over twenty times the cost! Yet many Europeans fear the loss of national sovereignty to a unified European government, and thus oppose their membership in the Union. With open borders between nations, xenophobia has also played a huge part in the opposition to the EU, as nationalists in each country stir up fears and hatred of immigrants from the poorer Eastern European nations. So what would happen if the EU didn't exist? Well for starters, millions of holiday and weekend European citizens wouldn't be able to fly and travel abroad so easily or cheaply. This would be a catastrophic turn of events for nations with a huge tourism industry such as Spain, who sees an average of 290 million tourists a year- with half of those being EU members. Just this one nation alone could face a potential loss of up to 145 million tourists as visa fees, difficulty in obtaining passports, and other economic roadblocks skyrocket airline and train ticket prices. Individuals would also have to exchange their money for each different nation's currency, biting into the pocket book of any would-be tourists and limiting how much money each spends at their destination. Europeans traveling across the EU would also be forced to buy expensive medical insurance, as without the current European Health Insurance Card, they would not have access to the care they currently enjoy anywhere on the continent. For professionals, the end of the EU would mean the end of open borders and standardized licensing and certifications. Anyone wishing to find work outside of their home country would be forced to go through a lengthy visa-approval process and then attempt to have their education degree or professional certification/license recognized by officials in the destination country. Standardization across the Union means that educated professionals can go to school at home or abroad, and then practice their profession in any member country. While originally established as an economic partnership, expansions to the EU have included the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which would also disappear without the EU. This charter enshrined universal political, social and economic rights for each citizen of the European Union in six titles: Number one, Dignity, guarantees the right to life and prohibits torture, slavery, the death penalty, eugenic practices and human cloning. Number two, Freedoms, covers personal liberty, privacy, freedom of religion, expression and assembly. Number three, Equality, prohibits all discrimination on the basis of disability, age, sexual orientation, culture or religion. Number four, Solidarity, covers social and workers rights and protection against unjustified dismissal, and access to health care. . Number five, Citizen's Rights, protects the right to vote and to move freely within the EU. Number six, Justice, guarantees the right to a fair trial, the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, and various other judicial rights/protections. Sort of like the American Bill of Rights, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union protects the freedoms and rights of each European citizen no matter their nation of origin. Without it, Europe would invite once more the rule of tyrants and despots as it has so often in its past. Without the EU, Europeans would face a significantly diminished economy, no longer be able to travel as freely or as cheaply, and be forced to jump through countless bureaucratic hoops when doing business abroad. While the majority celebrate the EU, as the UK referendum on membership has shown us, there are still sizable portions of the population who fear the growing power of the EU Parliament, and dislike the immigration that open borders has invited. Ultimately, each voter must ask themselves if the benefits of membership are worth the supposed burdens, even while most financial and political experts remain in steadfast support of a unified Europe. So, what do you think? Are the benefits of a unified Europe worth sacrificing some national sovereignty? Can a unified Europe avoid the pitfalls of its own past and work towards long-lasting peace and prosperity, or is the cost to each individual nation's right to rule itself too great? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Also be sure to check out our other video called What if USA never existed. Thanks for watching, and as always, don’t forget to like, share and subscribe. See you next time!