EU - individual paragraph

Original Brainstorming

answers from this week's short questions: What is the difference between the European Commission, the European Parliament, The Council of Europe, The Council of European Union and The European Council.
-European Commission: "government" - propose legislation
-European Parliament: pass new legislation together with The Council of European Union
-The European Council: sets out general goals
-Council of Europe: Europe's leading human rights organisation

make a CLEAR distinction

Original Paragraph

Although the European Union is subject to very complicated dynamics and structures, the purpose of its most important institutions can be outlined in a few sentences. First of all there is the European Commission which can be compared to a government. Its main task is to propose new legislation to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. Those two institutions make up the legislative branch of the EU. Together they are empowered to pass new legislations and implement the budget.  The Council of the European Union is not to be mixed up with the European Council. The latter is in charge of setting out general goals and has no legislative power. The posts in this institution are filled by the heads of EU member governments.   Last but not least there is another institution with a similar name: the Council of Europe. This Council is Europe’s leading human rights organization with 47 member states, of which 28 are members of the EU. After this short overview the discussed institutions can now be examined in more detail.

Feedback and reflection from class last week

Find a better concluding sentence!
pass legislation not legislations
mixed up is not a good word

Feedback and reflection from class this week

Unfortunately I was ill.

New version of my paragraph

Although the European Union is subject to very complicated dynamics and structures, the purpose of its most important institutions can be outlined in a few sentences. First of all there is the European Commission which can be compared to a government since its main task is to propose new legislation to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. Those two institutions constitute the legislative branch of the EU. As such they are empowered to pass new legislations and implement the budget. The Council of the European Union is not to be confused with the European Council as the latter is in charge of setting out general goals and has no legislative power. The seats in this institution are taken by the national head of EU member states.  To make it even more confusing there is another institution with a similar name: the Council of Europe. This Council is Europe’s leading human rights organization with 47 member states, of which 28 are members of the EU. By and large the main purposes of the major EU institutions are quite easy to grasp, although the partly closely related terminology may require some study effort.

EU Paper Topics

Here is the creme de la creme of my plentiful ideas ;)

1. National identity and EU citizenship 
What measures and programms has the EU initiated in order to make people identify themselves more with the European Union. I think this is of great importance because the EU would function even better if we would all have a strong feeling of belonging together.

2. EU scepticism
Juxtaposition of  German and Greek sceptist arguments.
This will illustrate two utterly different view points and by analyzing anti-EU-arguments they can maybe be taken appart.

3. Wildlife in the EU
What kind of effect has the EU had on wildlife and wildlife trade.
This is interesting because it will show how setting universal standards may produce positive outcomes in some and negative outcomes in other regions. I would take Croatia and the brown bear as an example because there the brown bear might ironically become more endangered after receiving the status of "being under protection".

4. Economy: Interdepence of Greek and German market
Due to its export policy Germany is dependent on countries like Greece as an output market. This fact is often neglected in the commercial media.

5. Subsidies
What does the EU support financially? This might be of interest if you are maybe planning to invest in alternative energy or are/will be eligable for some kind of subsidy.