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Monarchy and EU, does it work?

1. Introduction 3
2. The EU and Copenhagen criteria 4
2.1 Monarchies in the EU 5
3. Pro and cons of monarchy 7
4. What do people think? 9
5. Conclusion 10
6. Bibliography 11
7. Bibliography 12
8. Appendix 13
9. Appendix 14
10. Appendix 15
11. Appendix 16
12. Appendix 17
13- Appendix 18
14. Appendix 19

1. Introduction
In the following I would like to present an essay about the European Union (EU) and monarchies within the EU. Does it work? I will give you an answer, if it is still contemporary to have monarchies in the EU. Furthermore I would like to discuss which pros and cons monarchies have and what the population thinks about it.

2. The EU and Copenhagen criteria
The constitution of the EU dictates - among other things - the following points in the "Copenhagen criteria" for access of new member states: to guarantee democratic and constitutional order, to ensure human rights as well as to protect of minorities . That means that democracy is a very important pre-condition for the membership within the EU. Democracy means popular government and free elections in which the government is exclusively elected by the people. . Monarchy , on the contrary, is the "form of government in which the head of state is an individual who is appointed for life and has - in inherited his position: The monarch" who is a sole ruler.

2.1 Monarchies in the EU
There are seven states within the EU with a monarchy: Belgium, Denmark, Luxemburg, The Netherlands, Sweden, Spain und the United Kingdom. . Monarchy and democracy do not exclude each other necessarily. The monarchies of the states mentioned above are not sole rulers as they have often been in the past. They are parliamentary monarchies or constitutional monarchies. The constitutional monarchy is a special form of monarchy in which the power of the king is heavily limited by the constitution . In the parliamentary monarchy the monarch does not have the right - in contrast to the constitutional monarchy - to depose the government and mostly he has little influence on the state affairs because they are let by the parliament and the elected government. That is the reason why the monarch has mostly representative duties ; tasks which are carried out by the Federal President in Germany for example.
Luxemburg and the United Kingdom are the two constitutional monarchies within the EU. They do have the rights of a constitutional monarchy but due to common law they act like a parliamentary monarchy. The first constitutional monarchy has been established in the late middle ages in England (Glorious Revolution 1688 ).
Queen Elisabeth II official title is "Queen of God's graces of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and her other dominions and sovereign territories, dominator of commonwealth and defender of faith. That - sounds powerful, but she rarely interferes with political events in all her dominions. Nevertheless she is the official Head of State of Canada and Australia for example.
The Queen officially appoints ministers, bishops, army officers and diplomats. She is the commander of all British armed forces and it is the Queen who signs peace agreements, acknowledges states or declares wars. In practice this is taken over by the elected "government of her majesty. Also the annual opening of the parliament is purely a prestigious matter.
A constitutional or parliamentary monarchy guarantees free elections of citizens and is therefore more or less only responsible for representative tasks. These kinds of monarchies are democracies and therefore compatible with the constitution of the EU.

3. Pro and Cons of monarchy
If it does not oppose the constitution of the EU that a monarchic form of government in the above mentioned way can be a member of the EU, it nevertheless raises the following questions: What does the population of monarchic countries and non-monarchic countries within the EU think and which are the pros and cons?

A monarchy has the following advantages compared to a republic:
A monarch is politically independent because opposite to an elected president of a republic he does not belong to any political party. He is above party lines. Different from changing presidents in a republic he stands for continuity and stability. The crown stands as a uniting symbol for the entire population and embodies the tradition and cultures of the county and thus its own identity. Furthermore the crown has other practical advantages: the royal family has been and will be the centre of the English society. The royal family is an economic factor as a tourist attraction for visitors from all over the world. In England the Queen is the Head of the Anglican Church and deepens the tie between the church and the people. Monarchs are known for their support of art, culture and science and are socially committed.

There are also some disadvantages: a normal citizen cannot take over the duty of a king. For some people the monarchy is a very old-fashioned form of government which does not fit into our modern society any more.
The expense for the maintenance of royal commodities such as old castles and the expenditure of the entire family is not acceptable for some people . But referring back to the last argument: the expenditures of the German federal president are twice as high (including the pensions of the former presidents) as the support payment for the English royal family .
The point that a normal citizen cannot take over the tasks of a king through democratic election is probably correct. But all in all the pros seem to outweigh the cons, in my opinion.

4. What do people think?
Due to a public-opinion poll nearly 80% of the British people support the idea of maintaining the monarchy even after the death of the Queen . Even after the scandals in the 90s there is a fundamental backing of the monarchy within the population.
They do wish a more cosmopolitan and more populist monarchy (65% in year 2000) but they do not want to abolish it (only 11%). In other polls the supporters of a republic could not reach more than 20% .
Another example: the Spanish population is also very enthusiastic about its king , because in 1975 he secured the democracy for Spain after a long period of dictatorship. .

Even in Germany after the resignation of Emperor Wilhelm II, which finally made a dictatorship of Hitler possible, there is still some important support for the reintroduction of the monarchy. There are even organisations as the "Verein für Tradition und Leben e.V." and "Kaisertreue Jugend who strongly support this idea. Due to a Forsa poll even 25% of the younger generation (below 30 years old) want to have a monarchy in Germany. .

5. Conclusion
Monarchies within the EU are - by all means - up-to-date as long as they are constitutional or parliamentary monarchies. They create national identification; transfer traditional, ethical and social values and can prevent dictatorship.
Moreover I believe that the advantages of a monarchy are worth considering and overweigh the disadvantages for my opinion. The population - in the related countries with a monarchy but even also the population in the republican countries of the EU- thinks very positively about monarchy in general.

The question in my essay: "The EU and monarchy, does it work? can clearly be answered: "Yes, it does.

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