Internationale Politik und Europäische Union: Integration, Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik, Globalisierung
This domain tests the EU as a legal and political order, Europe's security architecture and the effects of globalisation. Typical tasks give a treaty article, a Commission proposal or a debate extract and ask you to explain a procedure and judge a contested claim such as "Brussels overregulates".
Integration and sovereignty
The EU is sui generis: neither a state nor a mere international organisation. Stages run from free trade area and customs union through the single market to monetary union and partial political union. Member states pool sovereignty; Art. 5 TEU limits action to conferred competences (exclusive, shared, supporting) and imposes subsidiarity and proportionality. Lisbon (2009) gave the Charter legal force, created the permanent European Council president and the High Representative, and extended co-decision.
Institutions and law-making
The Commission holds the monopoly of initiative, guards the treaties and enforces competition law; the Council of the EU (national ministers) and the European Parliament co-legislate under the ordinary legislative procedure; the European Council sets direction; the ECJ interprets the treaties and sanctions infringements; the ECB runs monetary policy. Council voting uses qualified majority: 55% of member states representing 65% of the EU population, with a blocking minority of at least four states. The EP cannot initiate legislation but can amend, reject and scrutinise.
Security and globalisation
NATO's Art. 5 provides collective defence; UN Charter Art. 2(4) bans the use of force except in self-defence (Art. 51) or with a Security Council mandate. Germany's Zeitenwende (2022) produced a €100bn Bundeswehr Sondervermögen and the 2% target. Globalisation rests on comparative advantage and WTO rules; the current debate concerns supply-chain resilience, de-risking and distributional effects.
Worked example
A Council vote: 15 states with 62% of the EU population support a proposal. Reasoning: the state threshold of 55% is met (15 of 27), the population threshold of 65% is not, so the proposal fails. Always check both thresholds; a blocking minority needs at least four states or over 35% of the population.
Traps
Confusing the Council of the EU with the European Council and with the Council of Europe (47 states, ECHR); calling the Commission the "EU government"; assuming the EP initiates laws; treating qualified majority as a simple majority of states.