The Council of Europe

by Muzek, Wallner and Toma

1. Original paragraph

The Council of Europe is the most important organisation beside the European Union in Europe. What makes this organisation so important is their aim to protect human rights, promote democracy and cultural diversity and fight social problems. Also, the Council supports issues like education, sports and youth mobility, apart from many others. The reason why they do all this is to guarantee the economic and social progress of their 47 member states. It was founded in 1949 by only ten European states. Because the membership is open to any “European” state which has the same beliefs, the amount of members is growing ever since. Not only European countries can join the Council but also non-European ones can do so as observers or partners. Observers are usually non-European democracies which want to support the Council of Europe when spreading democracy in developing countries. These countries have the status of partners and are supported in their democratisation process by them. To sum up, it is very important that we have a clear picture of everything the Council of Europe achieved and still is, in order to understand its importance in our everyday lives.

[191 words]

Our corrected version

The Council of Europe is the most important organisation beside the European Union in Europe. ( Besides/Apart from the European Union, the Council of Europe is the most important organization in Europe.) What makes this organisation so (omit, because rather informal register) important (repeated word; significant, essential) is their aim to protect human rights, promote democracy and cultural diversity and fight social problems. Also (Moreover would be better here, as it is more formal) , the Council supports issues like (encourages topics such as) education, sports and youth mobility, apart from many others (omit because of “such as....” it’s clear that there are other topics) The reason why they (it is the council who does all that and therefore “they” is incorrect) do all this is to guarantee the economic and social progress of their 47 member states. It was founded in 1949 by only ten European states (incoherent, should have come at the beginning of the paragraph). Because (usually you don’t begin a sentence with because; “Since” would be better here) the membership is open to any “European” state which has (shares) the same beliefs, the amount (number) of members is growing (has been increasing) ever since. Not only European countries can (can European countries) join the Council(,) but also non-European ones can do so as observers or partners. Observers are usually non-European democracies which want (rather informal register; tend to) to support the Council of Europe when (by) spreading democracy in developing countries. These countries have the status of partners and are supported in their democratisation process by them. To sum up, it is very important (crucial/essential) that we have a clear picture of (we are aware of) everything the Council of Europe achieved and still is, in order to understand its importance in our everyday lives.

2. Original paragraph

With a total of 47 member countries, including all of the present EU member states as well as several countries located beyond the EU borders, the Council of Europe bears great responsibility for the preservation of democracy in Europe. The Council was founded in 1949 by Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom, essentially in order to establish democratic stability in all European states.  The Council further strives to promote awareness of Europe’s cultural identity and diversity as well as their development. The latest member to join was Montenegro in 2007, after it signed and ratified the 83 conventions of the Council of Europe. The general requirement for a country to join the Council of Europe is to be at least partially located in Europe and to share the same common values. These values range from the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms to pluralistic democracy, the rule of law as well as free and fair elections. Countries that are located beyond the EU borders are designated, provided they are willing to contribute to the democratic transitions in Europe, such as Japan and the USA for instance. Observer states are permitted to participate in the committee of ministers and in intergovernmental committees. Otherwise they may attain observer status with the Parliamentary Assembly, as do Canada and Israel, meaning that they are authorized to engage in Assembly sessions. In addition to its member and observer states, the Council of Europe partnered with the EU, the UN and a variety of international organizations, including the ALESCO (Arab League Educational, Cultural, Scientific Organization), the OSCE (Organization for Security and co-operation in Europe) and the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between cultures. In conclusion, the main function of the Council of Europe is to assure democracy in Europe and cooperation between all European states in terms of human rights.

[315 words]

Our corrected version

With a total of 47 member countries, including all of the present EU member states as well as several countries located beyond the EU borders, the Council of Europe bears great responsibility (good expression+ good TS) for the preservation of democracy in Europe. The Council was founded in 1949 by Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom, essentially (omit, because in order to is enough here) in order to establish democratic stability in all European states.  The Council further strives to promote awareness of Europe’s cultural identity and diversity as well as their development. The latest member to join was Montenegro in 2007, after it signed and ratified the 83 conventions of the Council of Europe. The general requirement for a country to join the Council of Europe is to be at least partially located in Europe and to share the same common values. These values range from the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms to pluralistic democracy, the rule of law as well as free and fair elections. Countries that are located beyond the EU borders are designated, provided they are willing to contribute to the democratic transitions in Europe, such as Japan and the USA for instance. Observer states are permitted to participate in the committee of ministers and in intergovernmental committees. Otherwise (comma required) they may attain observer status with the Parliamentary Assembly, as do Canada and Israel, meaning that they are authorized to engage in Assembly sessions. In addition to its member and observer states, the Council of Europe partnered with the EU, the UN and a variety of international organizations, including the ALESCO (Arab League Educational, Cultural, Scientific Organization), the OSCE (Organization for Security and co-operation in Europe) and the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between cultures. In conclusion, the main function of the Council of Europe is to assure democracy in Europe and cooperation between all European states in terms of human rights. (good CS)

Final version (incorporate good qualities from the two paragraphs)

With a total of 47 member countries, including all of the present EU member states as well as several countries located beyond the EU borders, the Council of Europe bears great responsibility for the preservation of democracy in Europe. The Council was founded in 1949 by Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom in order to establish democratic stability in all European states. The Council strives to promote awareness of Europe’s cultural identity and diversity as well as economic development. The latest member to join was Montenegro in 2007, after having signed and ratified the 83 conventions of the Council of Europe. The general requirement for a country to join the Council of Europe is to be at least partially located in Europe and to share the same common values. These values range from respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms to pluralistic democracy as well as maintaining the rule of law and guaranteeing fair elections. Countries that are located beyond the EU borders, such as the USA and Japan, are designated to the democratic transitions in Europe, provided they are willing to contribute. These so-called observer states are permitted to participate in the committee of ministers and in intergovernmental committees. They may also attain observer status with the Parliamentary Assembly, meaning that they are authorized to engage in Assembly sessions. In conclusion, the main function of the Council of Europe is to assure democracy in Europe and cooperation between all European states.

[249 words]

Why Bosnia should join the EU

by Emina Ribo, Carola Ponjevic and Monika Toma

Original text:

When driving through the scattered regions in the Republic of Bosnia, a country on the Balkan peninsula of South Eastern Europe, you might observe that the Yugoslavian war had clearly left its marks. 12 years after the Dayton Agreement, which ended the tragic Yugoslavian war, Bosnia has been starting to reconstruct and repair the remaining war damages. Since Bosnia is located in the heart of Europe, the question arises: Why is the country not yet a member state of the EU? The prospect of EU membership exists, however, the country needs to improve its standards of living and politics as well as other areas. The accession of Bosnia to the EU would definitely grant the country a great deal of benefits and vice versa. The EU could derive a benefit from Bosnia in terms of agriculture and cultural diversity. If the Republic of Bosnia became a member state of the Union, both sides could extract advantages from each other.

As for Bosnia, an accession to the EU could help prevent corruption, since it is, in fact, a big issue there. The level of unemployment is rising and the citizen’s living conditions are getting worse while the officials and politics are getting richer. The Justice is mostly corrupt and even the schools and hospitals are trying to benefit from the corrupt system. The unfairness the Bosnians are confronted with every day has led to a tension between the citizens and the government. Not only the government causes discontent though but also the strained relationship between the three ethnics living in Bosnia, namely the Bosnians themselves, the Croatians and the Serbs. The relationship between them is strained due to the fact that they obviously still suffer the consequences of the war 20 years ago. Time has shown that the Bosnian government cannot solve these kind of issues on its own. An EU accession would therefore help to improve the social, political and economical situation in Bosnia. The EU could interfere in politics and economics and try to mediate between the ethnical groups in order to bring peace within the country.

Our classmates' feedback:

When driving through the scattered regions in the Republic of Bosnia, you might observe that the Yugoslavian war had clearly left its marks.

I can't tell the the text is going to be about the advantages that Bosnia would have with the accession to the EU. If this is your focus, consider mentioning it in the topic sentence

12

If you want to start a sentence with a number, you have to write it out..

Submitted version:

When driving through the scattered regions of the Republic of Bosnia, a country located on the Balkan peninsula of South Eastern Europe, you might observe that the Yugoslavian war had clearly left its marks. Twelve years after the Dayton Agreement, which ended the tragic war of former Yugoslavia, Bosnia started to reconstruct and repair the remaining war damages to become stable again. Since Bosnia is, in fact, located in the heart of Europe, this raises an inescapable question: Why is the country not yet a member state of the EU? Although the prospect of EU membership exists, as negotiations started in 2005, the country will have to first improve its standards of living and politics as well as other areas. Once the Republic is somewhat stable enough to become a member state of the Union, there is no doubt that not only could Bosnia benefit from the accession, but that the EU would also derive great benefits from the Republic, for instance, in terms of agriculture and cultural diversity.

Since corruption is a major issue in Bosnia, an accession to the EU would undoubtedly prevent its negative impact on the citizens and consequently help to foster Bosnia’s stability and economic reform. The level of unemployment continues to rise and the citizen’s living conditions are becoming worse each day, while officials and politicians are living in prosperity. The justice system is mostly corrupt as well and even schools and hospitals attempt to benefit from the corrupt system. As a result of this unfairness that Bosnians are currently being confronted with, a certain tension has developed not only between the citizens and the government, but also between the three ethnics living in Bosnia, namely the Bosnians themselves, the Croatians and the Serbs. The relationship between them is strained due to the fact that they apparently still suffer from the consequences of the war which came about as a result of the breakup of Yugoslavia 20 years ago. Time has clearly shown that the Bosnian government is not capable of solving these numerous issues on its own; and this is where the EU’s support could come into play. The Union could assist in improving the social as well as the political and economic situation in Bosnia by implementing effective EU regulations and policies in order to establish a well-functioning legal and governmental system. As far as the relationship between the inhabitants is concerned, the EU could also try to mediate between the ethnical groups by providing specific programs to promote a unity in order to restore peace within the country. It goes without saying that Bosnian citizens will be able to benefit from a wide range of EU programs and will be free to reside, work and study freely within the EU. Essentially, the membership is the only way to build up a social cohesion within the country and eventually make Bosnia an essential member in international businesses.

There are almost as many benefits for the EU to reap from this diverse country, as the numerous advantages Bosnia could receive from joining the EU. Since the EU respects and encourages cultural differences and views this as an essential sector of social and human development, it can certainly make enormous use of the Bosnian treasure house. The Union could take advantage of the country’s cultural diversity which is marked by regional differences where different ethnic groups live, each with traditions of their own.  Moreover, the vibrant country with its friendly inhabitants and lively atmosphere is characterized by a sublime, mountainous landscape and old historical buildings and monuments, all of which could contribute to promoting sustainable tourism. In other words, Bosnia could be one of the EU’s principal magnets of tourism. Apart from that, agriculture is a valuable source to invest in as well. Bosnia is famous for having extremely fertile soil, corn fields and plum trees which are usually used in the preparation of quality wine. These resources could be of great advantage to the EU as it would contribute to the Union’s profit.

Although Bosnia’s prospect of membership seems to lie in the distant future as the country is still in need of further development, the EU could definitely profit from Bosnia’s agriculture, cultural diversity, and much more. Just as the EU could gain a great deal from Bosnia’s accession, there is no doubt that Bosnia would improve in nearly every aspect and shine in new splendor.

[734 words]

Corrected version:

When driving through the scattered regions of the Republic of Bosnia, a country located on the Balkan peninsula of South Eastern Europe, you can observe that the Yugoslavian war clearly left its marks. Twelve years after the Dayton Agreement, which ended the tragic war of former Yugoslavia, Bosnia started to reconstruct damaged buildings and monuments in order to stabilize the country’s economic situation. Since Bosnia has, in fact, improved in many aspects, this raises an inescapable question: Why is the country not yet a member state of the EU? Although the prospect of EU membership exists, as negotiations started in 2005, the country will have to first improve its standards of living and politics as well as other areas. Once the republic meets most of EU’s requirements to become a Member State of the Union, there is no doubt that not only could Bosnia benefit from the accession, but that the EU would also derive great benefits from the country, for instance, in terms of agriculture and cultural diversity.

Since corruption is a major issue in Bosnia, accession to the EU would not only foster Bosnia’s stability and economic reform, but also make it easier for Bosnia’s citizens to lead a fair life. In addition, the level of unemployment continues to rise and the citizens’ living conditions are becoming worse each day, while officials and politicians are living in prosperity. The justice system is mostly corrupt as well and even schools and hospitals attempt to benefit from the corrupt system. As a result of the unfairness that Bosnia’s citizens are currently facing, a certain tension has developed not only between the citizens and the government, but also between the three ethnic groups themselves living in Bosnia, namely the Bosnians, the Croatians and the Serbs. The relationship between them is strained due to the fact that they are obviously still suffering from the consequences of the war which was caused as a result of the breakup of Yugoslavia 20 years ago. Time has clearly shown that the Bosnian government is not capable of solving these numerous issues on its own; and this is where the EU’s support could come into play. The Union could assist in improving the social as well as the political and economic situation in Bosnia by implementing effective EU regulations and policies in order to establish a well-functioning legal and governmental system. As far as the relationship between the inhabitants is concerned, the EU could also try to mediate between the ethnic groups by providing specific programs to promote a unity in order to restore peace within the country. It goes without saying that Bosnian citizens would be able to benefit from a wide range of EU programs and would be free to reside, work and study freely within the EU. Basically, EU membership is the only way to build social cohesion within the country and eventually make Bosnia an essential contributor in international affairs.

There are almost as many benefits for the EU to reap from this diverse country as the numerous advantages Bosnia could derive from joining the EU. Since the EU respects and encourages cultural differences, and perceives this as an essential sector of social and human development, it can certainly make full use of the Bosnian culture. The Union could take advantage of the country’s cultural diversity, which is marked by regional differences where different ethnic groups live, each with traditions of their own. Moreover, the vibrant countryside, with its inhabitants and lively atmosphere, is characterized by a mountainous landscape and old historical buildings and monuments, all of which could contribute to promoting sustainable tourism. In other words, Bosnia could be one of the EU’s principal magnets of tourism. Apart from these advantages, agriculture is a valuable resource to invest in as well, because of Bosnia’s extremely fertile soil and corn fields. These resources could be of great advantage to the EU as it would contribute to the Union’s success.

Although the prospect of Bosnia’s membership seems to lie in the distant future as the country is still in need of further development, the EU could definitely profit from Bosnia’s agriculture, cultural diversity, and much more. Just as the EU could gain a great deal from Bosnia’s accession, there is no doubt that Bosnia would improve in nearly every area and begin to flourish.

[721 words]

Before/after

Summary of ‘Europe already has on foot in ‘Japanese’ deflation grave’

Before:

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, in The Telegraph of October 23, 2013 discusses deflation and its disastrous effects on debt-ridden European countries.

Evans-Pritchard states that deflation currently appears to be insignificant in “low-debt” countries, such as Spain and Italy. However, as the debt ratio proceeds to rise over 300pc of GDB and inflation recently dropped to 0.9pc within the eurozone, causing a gradual fall in prices, these countries will soon be fully affected by deflation and, consequently, face a debt crisis.   

According to the article, this deflationary tendency pushes countries into a “runaway debt trajectory” that is impossible to acquit. These countries are faced with two options to prevent this predicament: Either implementing an austerity policy or increasing the inflation rate to ensure economic growth. Both solutions, however, seem to be doomed to fail as politicians do not make efforts to cut spending, and Germany refuses to cooperate to drift up inflation, simply because the country benefits from declining inflation.

The author believes that the best solution is for Italy, Spain, France and Club Med to join forces and persuade Germany to keep inflation high enough to avert deflation, as it will inevitably result in a “Japanese deflation grave” for all European countries. 

200 WORDS, NOT INCLUDING TITLE

After:

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, in The Telegraph of October 23, 2013 discusses deflation and its disastrous effects on debt-ridden European countries.

Evans-Pritchard states that deflation currently appears to be insignificant in “low-debt” countries, such as Spain and Italy. However, as the debt ratio proceeds to rise over 300pc of GDP and inflation recently dropped to 0.9pc within the eurozone, causing a gradual fall in prices, these countries will soon be fully affected by deflation and, consequently, face a debt crisis.   

According to the article, this deflationary tendency pushes countries into a “runaway debt trajectory” that is impossible to escape. These countries are faced with two options to prevent this predicament: Either implementing an austerity policy or increasing the inflation rate to ensure economic growth. Both solutions, however, seem to be doomed to fail as politicians do not make efforts to cut spending, and Germany refuses to cooperate to drift up inflation, simply because the country benefits from declining inflation.

The author believes that the best solution is for Club Med to join forces and persuade Germany to keep inflation high enough to avert deflation, as it will inevitably result in a “Japanese deflation grave” for all European countries. 

196 WORDS, NOT INCLUDING TITLE

My Academic Paper and I

Honestly, I have to admit that I haven’t had a lot of time lately to start yet with my academic paper. There are so many other projects for the other courses to focus on until Christmas break that I have decided to put it off to when I have more time, which will be during Christmas break (hopefully). However, the office hour has been extremely helpful since it enlightened me as to how I can structure my paper and that I should come up with a question to help me see where this paper is going. Not having a real focus was a major problem for me, because there were so many aspects you could write about on the topic “Egypt and the EU”, and so I ended up being really demotivated until we cleared this up during office hour. Although there aren't a lot of sources about this topic, I could find some interesting (and hopefully reliable as well) ones and I hope to start as soon as all the pre-Christmasy stress is over. 

My critique on an anonymous summary

Summary of Europe already has one foot in 'Japanese' deflation grave

In The Telegraph of October 23, 2013, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard warns against deflation.

Over the last three months, inflation has dropped in several EU countries, leading the eurozone towards a Japanese-style deflation. Such sustained deflation is destructive to economies since debt dynamics are sensitive to changes in inflation. The current development risks pushing Italy and Spain into runaway debt.

Europe’s debt crisis strategy forces indebted states to cut wages to be able to compete with Germany. However, Europe’s policy regime does this without stimulating economic growth. Despite economy measures, the debts of Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland have risen over the past two years. Private debts have also risen since the crisis began and businesses had to spend their liquid assets. Thus, imposing fiscal cuts is a self-defeating policy.

The solution to this economic climate is an inflation of at least two percent. However, the ECB is doing nothing to ensure this, as it is biased towards Germany, which is against inflation due to its strong economy.

The author recommends that the countries in need of inflation cooperate in the ECB’s governing council. They should assert themselves and call Germany’s bluff of walking out of the eurozone.

My comment:

Apart from the highlighted word (economic instead of economy), I can not see anything wrong with this summary; it is grammatically as well as textually well-written. The student: 

• seems to have understood the main points of the text, 
• wrote a good and concise introduction and conclusion,
• avoided redundancy, 
• used a good range of vocabulary,
• stuck to the facts and remained impersonal, 
• and was consistent register-wise.

All in all, a well-written, on-point, and coherent summary. 

Basic information on the European Union

Original Paragraph
As we started talking about the EU in this week’s class, I realized, there are a few facts every EU citizen needs to know about the European Union, if only vaguely. The EU was established after the Second World War, in 1958, under the name of “European Economic Community” (EEC), aiming to create an economic interdependence between Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in order to steer clear of future conflicts. Over the years, the EEC grew into more than being just an economic union between the founding six countries, and thus the name change in 1993, from EEC to EU. The EU currently comprises 28 European countries (Austria joining in 1995), with its political center in Brussels, and has 24 official and working languages. These member states are all united economically as well as politically, and for some countries the EU membership meant a great economic transformation, such as for Ireland when joining in 1973. There are five main organizations managing the EU, namely European Commission, European Parliament, the Council of Europe, the Council of the European Union, and the European Council, each responsible for certain tasks, e.g. legislation. In conclusion, there is considerably more to say and know about the EU; however, that should be sufficient to begin with. 
[210 words]   

Feedback summary 1
I (almost) always like receiving feedback on my writing, because you can see which areas need improvement and which errors can be easily avoided in future writings. In spite of some errors, my group-mates liked my paragraph and how it was organized (good topic sentence, supporting sentences and concluding sentence). One thing they thought would be better to write is "...and thus the name change from EEC to EU in 1993.". They also suggested to find out if 'European Commission' and 'European Parliament' is written with or without an article, and perhaps to shorten the paragraph slightly.

Rewritten Paragraph
As we started talking about the EU in this week’s class, I realized, there are a few facts every EU citizen needs to know about the European Union, if only vaguely. The EU was established after the Second World War, in 1958, under the name of “European Economic Community” (EEC), aiming to create an economic interdependence between Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in order to steer clear of future conflicts. Over the years, the EEC grew into more than being just an economic union between the founding six countries, and thus the name change from EEC to EU in 1993. The EU currently comprises 28 European countries (Austria joining in 1995), with its political center in Brussels, and has 24 official and working languages. These member states are all united economically as well as politically, and for some countries the EU membership meant a great economic transformation, such as for Ireland when joining in 1973. There are five main organizations managing the EU, namely European Commission, European Parliament, the Council of Europe, the Council of the European Union, and the European Council, each responsible for certain tasks, e.g. legislation. In conclusion, there is considerably more to know about the EU; however, that should be sufficient to begin with. 
[208 words]

Feedback summary 2 
This time, two other classmates looked at my paragraph and they liked my use of vocabulary and thought it was cohesive as well. The problem with whether to put the article "the" before every single organizations also became clear: You put it either before the first or before every single one, and I decided to place only one "the" before the first organization so as not to sound too repetitive. 

Final draft 
As we started talking about the EU in this week’s class, I realized, there are a few facts every EU citizen needs to know about the European Union, if only vaguely. The EU was established after the Second World War, in 1958, under the name of “European Economic Community” (EEC), aiming to create an economic interdependence between Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in order to steer clear of future conflicts. Over the years, the EEC grew into more than being just an economic union between the founding six countries, and thus the name change from EEC to EU in 1993. The EU currently comprises 28 European countries (Austria joining in 1995), with its political center in Brussels, and has 24 official and working languages. These member states are all united economically as well as politically, and for some countries the EU membership meant a great economic transformation, such as for Ireland when joining in 1973. There are five main organizations managing the EU, namely the European Commission, European Parliament, Council of Europe, Council of the European Union, and European Council, each responsible for certain tasks, e.g. legislation. In conclusion, there is considerably more to know about the EU; however, that should be sufficient to begin with.
[206 words]

Final draft 2
As we started talking about the European Union (EU) in this week’s class, I realized there are a few facts every EU citizen needs to know about the European Union, if only vaguely. The EU was established after the Second World War, in 1958, as the “European Economic Community” (EEC), with the aim of creating an economic interdependence between Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in order to steer clear of future conflicts. Over the years, the EEC grew to be more than simply an economic union between the founding six countries, and thus the name change from EEC to European Union in 1993. The EU currently comprises 28 European countries, with its political center in Brussels, and has 24 official and working languages. These member states are all united economically as well as politically, and for some countries EU membership has meant a great economic transformation. Some of the main organizations which are managing the EU are the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, and the European Council, each responsible for certain tasks, e.g. legislation and setting the EU’s political direction. There is considerably more to know about the EU; however, every person living within the EU should have a basic knowledge of it.

[210 words]

The European Union

To be honest, I have never really been very interested in talking about the EU, and that was probably because I didn't have to deal with this huge topic...until now. So if I have to write about a topic related to the EU, I would choose one of the following five:

1.  Travelling within the EU

I have a great fondness for travelling and since Austria is a member of the EU, it would be very interesting to know all about the opportunities we have (e.g. as students) and what exactly the EU did to make travelling in Europe simpler.

     2.   Translation and the European Union

Since translation will be a big part of my professional career in the future, I am especially interested in the translation services within the EU; how it became one of the most unique communicating policies with its 24 official languages, who decides on this official languages, etc.

     3.   The EU and Egypt

There has been a lot going on in Egypt for the past two years, and because I am Egyptian myself, I would like to know the EU's relation to Egypt; if this relationship had a bearing on either, etc.

     4.   Abortion

A very important and controversial issue nowadays. Why are there exceptions such as Ireland? Why isn't there an EU-wide law for abortion?

     5.   Impact of EU membership on Ireland

Last semester got me really interested in Irish culture. When Ireland joined the EU, the country experienced a great improvement and the citizens were glad about it, unlike other countries who didn't really care about joining the EU or not. So what exactly did change since Ireland joined?