EU law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

EU law - Essay Example All of these rights were previously established in the EC Treaty. Also relevant in relation to citizens’ rights is article of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, which binds the institutions, bodies and the Member States when they implement EU law. This paper examines the effects of Lisbon treaty. An overview of other treaties Before the signing the Lisbon treaty, the European Union entered into different treaties that lead to the Lisbon one. This section outlines these treaties. The European Coal and Steel Community treaty (ECSC) (Treaty of Paris): this treaty was signed in 1951 in Paris creating regional institutions meant to manage trade of coal and steel. Members who signed this treat included France, Italy, West Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg (Chalmers, 2006). European Economic Community (EEC) Treaty (treaty of Rome): This was signed in 1957 by the same countries that formed treaty of Paris. On the same day, another treaty European Atomic Energy Comm unity (the EURATOM Treaty), was signed by the six countries. Other important treaties that followed included. European Communities (the Merger Treaty of 1965): This treaty merged the three previous treaties (ECSC, EURATOM and EEC) to create the European Communities, as known as the community Market, which was signed in 1967 (Chalmers, 2006). Upon the signing of this treaty, key institutions of the European Union were formed; this included the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the European Court of Justice. Single European Act: this important treaty was reached in 1987, which amended the previous three founding treaties, thus creating an â€Å"internal market† for member states; the market was implemented in 1992. The goals of this treaty included forming a single currency and creating a free market. The Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht Treaty): this was reached in 1992 but was enforced in 1993, creating the European Union, whic h was based on the European Communities. This particularly treat founded a â€Å"three pillar† system. The last treaty signed before the Lisbon treaty was the Treaty of Amsterdam, signed in 1997 that was enforced in 1999.this treaty amended and also renumbered the European Union and the European Community (Chalmers, 2006). Lisbon Treaty: provisions on Democratic Principles Democratic principles provided in the Lisbon Treaty fundamentally purposed to enhance the democratic authority of the Union in the Preamble. These new reforms mainly strengthened the role of the European Parliament, country parliaments, as well as providing for citizen’s initiatives, with an aim of increasing democratic legitimacy of the European Union. The Treaties contained provisions focused at cementing democracy in its representatives as well as their participatory dimensions by founding new participatory mechanisms, like the European citizens’ initiative, and new guides of communication and information with the European civil society. The European Parliament (EP): The Lisbon Treaty moved one step ahead in regard to the idea of representation by establishing that the European Parliament should be composed of representatives of the Union’s citizens, appointed for five years through direct universal suffrage in a free and fair secret election. According to these regulations, the European Council had to determine through accord, on the initiative of its Parliament, future composition of the latter

Accountancy is not a profession Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Accountancy is not a profession - Essay Example In the period between 1933 and 1934, there occurred tremendous growth in the financial markets and their structure and level of organization improved considerably. That growth can be attributed to the audited financial data’s reliability to a considerable extent (Antle and Suner, 2007). However, over the last decade, a wave of scandals has shaken the structure of accountancy as a profession. The debate surrounding the professional status of accountancy can be traced back to the early 20th century. The supreme court of one of the states in the early 20th century referred to accountancy as a â€Å"business† that did not benefited the public like the â€Å"profession of law†, and further said that the laws of accountancy â€Å"have been passed in the interest of those engaged in the business and for their protection and advantage rather than in the interest of the public welfare† (Turnburee, 1946, p. 47). Profession has been defined as â€Å"a calling, occup ation, or vocation distinguished from a trade or handicraft† (Webster cited in Turnburee, 1946, p. 47). On the other hand, accountancy has been defined as â€Å"the art as well as the science of recording, classifying, summarizing of business transactions in terms of money within an accounting or financial year, with the help of principles and techniques† (Banerjee, 2010, p. 4). ... Formation of such organizations has increased the demand of clarification of the rules. When the accountants get any pressure from the management or are sued, they tend to approach the rule-making organizations and express their concern over lack of clarification of rules in particular cases. Rules are always secondary to professional judgment. â€Å"In the big picture, this shift in emphasis from judgment to rules has damaged their professionalism. No profession can rely on rules as the main basis for its work† (Sunder cited in Antle and Sunder, 2007). The professional status of accountancy has also been challenged by many accountants. For example, the accountant David Logan at the IRIS World Event arranged at Twickenham warned the fellows that accountancy is increasingly becoming a trade rather than a profession; â€Å"I used to have seven audits, but I could do 95% of my business without being registered. We’re competing with anybody who can set up as a bookkeeper. If someone is made redundant and sets up on their own, you can’t compete with that† (Logan cited in Stokdyk, 2012). The recent changes made to the audit exemption criteria have made things even worse as the firms have started to do the works of accountancy without an accountant. These days, many large companies do such works as filing the accounts and bookkeeping without the help of accountants and still no objections are raised by the government (Stokdyk, 2012). Although the government provides business with the relaxation of red tape, yet the accountants are facing restrictions from various avenues for making income. Another accountant Paul Scholes encouraged