The European Union A Controversial Issue - 2459 Words

Since 1973 when the British first joined the European Union their membership has been a controversial issue. When conservatives in the United Kingdom won the general election in 2015, their election manifesto promised to hold a referendum on whether or not the United Kingdom should stay or leave the European Union. The referendum also referred to as â€Å"Brexit† is scheduled to take place by the end of 2017. The United Kingdom initially joined the union to be part of the common market for the purpose of trade and to develop international relationships. The main argument for those who are pro Brexit is that being part of the European Union is too costly for the United Kingdom, that the EU has grown to large, has interfered to far into†¦show more content†¦The EU has its own currency called the euro which 19 of the 28 European states use. It is run by members of the European parliament, these members set rules that cover a wide range of areas such as rules on transpor t and business. Once a state becomes a member of the European Union they have a right to withdraw from the Union under the Treaty on the European Union. Article 50 in the Treaty on European Union states, â€Å"Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements. If the United Kingdom votes to leave the Union, they would be the first state to ever withdraw their membership. The United Kingdom initially joined the European Union in 1973 for economic reasons hoping to promote trade and form relationships with other states in the Union. In 1975 the UK held its first national referendum on withdrawal from the European Economic Community. According to the poll,† 67 % of Britons voted to stay in the EEC and 32 % voted to leave the union† (GYE). Because of this result the UK stayed in the EU in 1975. Over the past 40 years the European Union has been through a lot of change, many more countries have joined the organizati on and the EU has extended its control over more aspects of daily lives. These changes have sparked a lot of controversy coming from both the UK public and