Original text
In times of the current financial crisis, numerous
EU member states are debating on whether or not it would be a wise decision to
leave the European Union. Italy, one of the countries most strongly affected by the recession,
still appears to be in favour of remaining within the EU. The number of
problems Italy currently has to solve, such as the high unemployment rate, have
not changed the mind of Italy’s population because the majority of Italy’s
nationals are still supporters of the European Union. Only a miniscule number
of people have taken a stand against the EU-membership. This essay will discuss why the advantages of
Italy’s EU membership outweigh the disadvantages and show, on the basis of
Italy’s current economic situation, why Italy should decide against
leaving the EU.
Since Italy’s joining in 1952, and even before, the relationship
between Italy and the EU member states has always been a very strong one,
thanks to Italy’s political leaders. Alcide De Gasperi was Italy’s first Prime
Minister after abandoning the monarchy in 1861. In De Gasperi’s period of
governance, Italy joined the NATO, was part of the American Marshall Plan and
experienced an economic boom. He was also one of the founding members of
the ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community) alongside Jean Monnet, Robert
Schumann and Konrad Adenauer which leads to establishing the European Union as
known today. In the past as well as today, the Italian population admires De
Gasperi for everything he had done for the country and shares his opinion of a
united Europe and his dream of democracy, integration and political and
economic cooperation.
Italy is one of the EU member states most strongly
affected by various financial and social problems. The global financial crisis
struck in Italy in 2009 and economic growth has been almost non-existent ever
since. The youth unemployment rate has exceeded 40% and corporate debts have also reached a very high
level. General high indebtedness causes the state to sell public property for
example schools, palaces and hospitals.
The European Union has established the ESM (European Stability Mechanism)
and the EFSF (European Financial Stability Facility), two rescue funds which
are supposed to help Italy to repay its debts. Without the EU’s help Italy
would most presumably drown in debt which would ultimately lead to a collapse
of the entire country.
Due to the current disastrous
situation in Africa, boatloads of migrants pour into Lampedusa, a tiny Italian
island closer to North Africa than to Italy itself. An estimated 30,100 immigrants reached the island between January and
September this year and is therefore overloaded with migrants. According to
international law, refugees who flee from persecution or war are granted
asylum, but Lampedusa cannot cope with this enormous influx of migrants
anymore. In order to address this problem the Italian government has
called on the European Union to support Italy with this critical issue. The
country receives(or received?) 12.12% of the total EU budget for migration-related
issues, making Italy second
only to Spain. Moreover, Italy will also be given another €6.9 billion
by the European Social Fund. Having been to Lampedusa in October, José Manuel
Barroso, president of the European Commission, has announced that Lampedusa
would be granted with an additional amount of money to help Italy to improve
the standards at its immigrant holding centers. If the European Union left this
problem to its member state, Italy would be, without doubt, unable to deal with
the rapidly growing number of immigrants that seek help in Lampedusa.
Feedback summary
Katrin and Orsolya are the two students who were
looking at our text. All in all, we received a very positive feedback. They especially
liked our introduction, as it is logically structured and contains all the
important information. However, the two noticed that there are some unclear
referents in our essay which Lisa, Sandra and I have overlooked. Furthermore, Katrin
and Orsolya made helpful recommendations for improving our text, such as
stronger collocations. We consider Katrin’s and Orsolya’s suggestions as very
useful and we included all of them in our final version.
Having received the feedback, we were going through
the list of questions posted on the WBW and applied them to our own text.
Although we were very satisfied with our overall essay, some individual
paragraphs definitely needed improvement. We had to ensure that each paragraph contains
an introducing and a conclusion sentence and talks about a new argument. Another
important point that we looked at is that we tended to generalise and to
include some vague statements.
Final version of our text
by Sandra Lang, Vanessa Steinkogler and Lisa Vido
In times of the current financial
crisis, numerous EU member states are debating on whether or not it would be a
wise decision to leave the European Union. Italy, one of the countries most
strongly affected by the recession, still appears to be in favour of remaining
in the EU. The number of problems Italy currently has to
solve, such as the high unemployment rate, has not changed the mind of Italy’s
population, as the majority of Italy’s nationals are still supporters of the
European Union. Only a miniscule number of people have taken a stand against the EU-membership. This
essay will discuss why the advantages of Italy's EU membership outweigh the
disadvantages and will show, on the basis of Italy's current economic situation
and past political decisions, why Italy should decide against leaving the EU.
Since Italy’s accession to the European Union in 1952,
and even before, the relationship between Italy and the EU member states has
always been a very strong one. Alcide De Gasperi was Italy’s first Prime
Minister after abandoning the monarchy in 1861. In De Gasperi’s period of
governance, Italy joined the NATO, was part of the American Marshall Plan and
experienced an economic boom. He was also one of the founding members of the
ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community) alongside Jean Monnet, Robert Schumann
and Konrad Adenauer. In addition, the founding of the ECSC led to the
establishment of the European Union as known today. In the past as well as
today, the Italian population has admired De Gasperi for everything he has done
for the country and still shares his opinion of a united Europe and his dream
of democracy, integration and political as well as economic cooperation.
After the decision to join the EU has been finalised,
Italy has enjoyed many advantages regarding economic, social and financial
issues. With the introduction of the euro in 2002 and the joining of the
Schengen Area, Italian citizens were enabled to travel, work or live in all EU
member states due to the open borders. Moreover, import and export was
facilitated immensely between the member countries that joined Schengen.
Another very beneficial advantage that was brought about by joining the EU
concerns education. Students were given the opportunity to take part in an
exchange year with the help of organisations such as Erasmus. Being part of the
EU has provided countless obvious benefits, but also in times of the financial
crisis or the situation in Lampedusa the EU is a reliable source of assistance.
Italy is one of the EU
member states most strongly affected by various financial and social problems.
The global financial crisis struck Italy in 2009 and economic growth has been
almost non-existent ever since. The youth unemployment rate has exceeded 40%
and corporate debts have also reached an enormously high level. General high
indebtedness causes the state to sell public property such as schools, palaces
and hospitals. The European Union has established the ESM (European
Stability Mechanism) and the EFSF (European Financial Stability Facility), two
rescue funds which are supposed to help Italy to repay its debts. Without the
EU’s help Italy would most presumably drown in debt which would ultimately lead
to a collapse of the entire country.
Due to
the current disastrous situation in Africa, boatloads of migrants pour into
Lampedusa, a tiny Italian island closer to North Africa than to Italy itself.
An estimated 30,100 immigrants reached Lampedusa between January and September
this year. The island cannot cope with this enormous influx of migrants anymore
and in order to address this problem, the Italian
government has called on the European Union to support Italy. The country
receives 12.12% of the total EU budget for migration-related issues. Moreover,
Italy will also be given another €6.9 billion by the European Social Fund.
Having been to Lampedusa in October, José Manuel Barroso, president of the
European Commission, has announced that Lampedusa would be granted with an
additional amount of money to help Italy to improve the standards at its
immigrant holding centres. If the European Union left this problem to its
member state, Italy would be, without doubt, unable to deal with the rapidly
growing number of immigrants that seek help in Lampedusa.
The
critical atmosphere that dominates Italy at the present time undoubtedly
complicates life for its nationals. The current problems Italy has to cope with
will cause serious damage to Italy and, if unaddressed, they will eventually
become insolvable. With the EU’s assistance though, Italy would be able to
stabilise the country’s financial and social issues. The overpopulation caused
by the massive influx of immigrants as well as the indebtedness could be solved
and Italy’s economy would start recovering. Leaving the EU would therefore be
an unwise decision that would only exacerbate Italy’s situation and divest
Italy of the much needed help to rebuild their country.
[816 words]
Corrected version of essay
Due to the current financial crisis and the economic problems that arise, numerous EU member states are debating whether or not it would be a wise decision to leave the European Union. Italy, one of the countries most strongly affected by economic problems, still appears to be in favour of remaining in the EU. The number of problems Italy is currently facing, such as the high unemployment rate, has not changed the mind of Italy’s population, as the majority of Italy’s nationals are still supporters of the European Union. Only a minimal number of people has taken a stand against an EU membership. This essay will discuss why the advantages of Italy’s EU membership outweigh the disadvantages and will show, on the basis of Italy’s current economic situation and past political decisions, why Italy should decide against remain in the EU.
Since being part of the European Union, and even before, the relationship between Italy and the EU member states has always been a very strong one. Alcide De Gasperi was Italy’s first Prime Minister after the government had decided to abandon the monarchy in 1861. In De Gasperi’s period of governance, Italy joined the NATO, was part of the American Marshall Plan and experienced an economic boom. He was also one of the founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) alongside Jean Monnet, Robert Schumann and Konrad Adenauer. The founding of the ECSC led to the establishment of the European Union as we know it today. Italians admire De Gasperi for everything he has done for the country and still share his vision of a united Europe and his dream of democracy, integration and political as well as economic cooperation.
After establishing the EU, Italy has enjoyed numerous advantages regarding economic, social and financial issues. With the introduction of the euro in 2002 and in joining the Schengen Area, Italian citizens were able to travel, work and live in all EU member states thanks to the open borders. University students now have the opportunity to take part in exchanges with the help of organisations such as Erasmus. Import and export was facilitated immensely between the member countries that joined Schengen. Another very beneficial advantage that was brought about by joining the EU, concerns education. Being part of the EU has provided countless obvious benefits. Since the financial crisis and the worse situation in Lampedusa, the EU has become an especially helpful source of assistance.
Italy is one of the EU member states most strongly affected by various financial and social problems. The global financial crisis struck Italy in 2009 and economic growth has been almost non-existent ever since. The youth unemployment rate has exceeded 40% and corporate debts have also reached an enormously high level. National debt caused the state to sell public property such as schools, palaces and hospitals. The European Union has established the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), two rescue funds to help Italy repay its debts. Without the EU’s help, Italy would most presumably drown in debt which would ultimately lead to the collapse of the entire country.
Another example in favour of staying an EU member is the aid concerning migrant policy. Due to the hard living circumstances in Africa, boatloads of migrants are pouring into Lampedusa, a tiny Italian island closer to North Africa than to Italy itself. An estimated 30,100 immigrants reached Lampedusa between January and September this year. The island cannot cope with this enormous influx of migrants anymore and in order to address this problem, the Italian government has called on the European Union for support. Subsequently Italy had received 12.12% of the total EU budget for migration-related issues. In addition to that, Italy will also be given another €6.9 billion by the European Social Fund. After having been to Lampedusa in October, José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, has announced that Lampedusa will be granted additional funds to help Italy to improve the standards at its immigrant holding centers. If the European Union left this problem to Italy, the country would be, without doubt, unable to deal with the rapidly growing number of immigrants that seek help in Lampedusa.
The tense atmosphere caused by the financial crisis that dominates Italy at the present time, undoubtedly complicates life for its nationals. The current problems Italy has to cope with could cause serious damage to Italy and, if unaddressed, they will eventually become irresolvable. With the EU’s assistance though, Italy will be able to stabilise the country’s financial and social issues. The overpopulation caused by the massive influx of immigrants as well as the debt problem could be solved and Italy’s economy could start recovering. Leaving the EU would therefore be an unwise decision that would only exacerbate Italy’s financial situation and divest Italy of the much needed help to rebuild their country.
