Introduction
People from all over the world come to Europe every year making it a crossroad of different cultures, races and ethnic groups. It is also one of the most populated regions of the world. With a rapid increase in population, European Union (EU) has been facing a lot of problems in environmental protection, Climate change, Energy sources and immigration. These challenges do not exist in isolation and the EU is continuously working to deal with these challenges. In this essay, these problems are explained in a short form and their possible and short solutions are also explained.
According to Checchi, A. et al. (2009), Energy has been a major problem for European Union (EU) for many years now. The energy consumption will keep on increasing until 2020. The current dependency of energy is 50% which will be increased to 70% in 2030. EU is dependent upon the coal, natural gas and oil. In 1973, EU faced an oil shock. At that time, EU preferred to solve the problem at its own instead of depending upon other countries. This ever increasing energy consumption will be the biggest challenge for the EU in next 20 years as the population is increasing with a higher rate. The electric energy consumption is also becoming a major problem for some of the European countries. In Greece and Spain, there have been a lot of problem in hydroelectric power plants in the past. These hydroelectric powers are not as cheap as the nuclear energy plants are. The energy produced by nuclear plants is far cheaper than the hydroelectric power plants. However, according to the experts, the current conditions of energy are not as bad as they were in the past. The main challenge is most of the gas supplies are taken from Russia. The relationship between the energy supply security and the gas market liberalization is becoming one of the most controversial issues for EU.
EU has to make a strategy to get most of the energy from nuclear sources. France is getting 75% of its energy from nuclear sources. The emergency gas storage capacities need to be improved. The projects of South Stream gas with Italy, Turkey and Greece needs to be promoted on a bigger level. Same is the case with Uzbekistan and Iran; these two countries can also help EU to come out from energy crises. Iran can be a better option for EU for the energy source of oil.
EU also needs to strengthen is relationships with energy rich countries. The energy routes needs to be diversified and to do research on renewable energy sources. EU needs to make efforts to originate new gas pipelines from Caspian Sea and Middle East as these regions are rich in energy sources especially; the Middle East countries are most rich in oil resources.
Human health is very dependent upon the environmental conditions. The importance of environmental conditions are becoming more vital as the population of Europe is increasing day be day. According to the European commission, the European countries have very high environmental standards and the people living here are enjoying the best environment still, there are a lot of internal environment issues. Sudden climate changes, deforestation, water and air pollution and biodiversity loss are the major problems faced by the European Union. Chemical wastes from the factories are becoming a major health threat to the people living in European countries. Same problem is with the water pollution when the poisonous chemicals get mixed with the water. The importance of the chemical industry can’t be denied as well as it is the third largest manufacturing industry in Europe. Perhaps, the climate change is one of the major challenges faced by the EU now days. This is because of the greenhouse gas emissions and if the same trends are not reversed; the climate change can become a major threat to human lives. The chemical gases emitted by the chemical industries get directly mixed with the air and becoming a reason for the lungs diseases.
Peter Davies (2004) says Commitments and efforts are required at an international level by the European Union. The environmental measure needs to be promoted on an international level to deal with environmental problems. As per United Nations framework, the European Union position is very crucial in order to ensure progress. The government authorities need to evaluate more information regarding the registration of the chemical used in industries. Chemical industries should also oblige to get authorization from local authorities in order to operate with hazardous chemicals and to ensure it proper dispose. EU also needs to meet the Kyoto Protocol targets in order to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. Innovative means needs to be taken by EU to address the transportation and industry emission.
According to Kekem, R. et al. (2005), Waste management problem is another issue faced by the European countries. As the figures of EU Focus 2006, The EU is producing 1.8 billion tons of waste per year in which almost 40 million tons of the waste is very dangerous for human health. This waste is coming from construction, mining, urban areas and agriculture. Management of theses wastes has always been a problem for EU. On the other hand, this waste is increasing per day with the increase of population.
EU needs to promote recycling schemes in order to reduce the waste and to re-use in the same process. Through better product design, there must be a gap between the economic growth and waste generation. EU ales need to govern the laws for the disposal and recycling of the waste streams like electronic wastes, automobiles, batteries and packing. Landfills should used as a last resort to dispose the waste and to reduce the pollution.
Bogusz, B. (2004) indicated that the immigration effects on the labor market are more multifaceted and complexes. It also affects the relocation of the workforce. The human capital and labor supply to the labor markets in also dependent upon the migrations. This has become one of the main problems for EU since 1960s when the immigration was at its peek. The number of immigrants is increasing day by day in European countries which have given rise to many problems. There have been many negative impacts on the labor market on wages. The main populations of these migrants are women therefore; the integration of these women in labor market is becoming another challenge for EU. After 2004, this immigration became larger when EU opened its gates for international labor market. There have been a lot of problems to handle this workforce. The unemployment rates have increased along with the cost of living. On the other hand, the income level has been decreased to due the willingness of the workers to work on low wages. Sometimes, the people who don’t find the proper work also get involved in the criminal activities increasing the rate of crime in EU as well.
EU needs to re-design the immigration policies to deal with the migration issues. EU should also promote welfare systems. The human capital should be allocated in a better place. The closed-door policy for the immigrants may also solve the problem to an extent as it forces the immigrants to go for alternative ways for the penetration of the labor market.
Conclusion
With the increase of population, it has become difficult for EU to face the upcoming challenges. People have been careless with the waste management and not going for the recycling process. Efforts made by the European Union are still not enough to deal with the challenges faced in Energy and Immigration problems. Better relationships with other countries however, helped EU a lot to solve most of its problems. The role of government is most important where the policies need to be redesigned to solve the problems like immigrations. Energy has been a problem for most of the countries in the world however; EU has better options to work on the projects with the energy rich countries. Advanced research and nuclear energy sources can serve the energy purposes for EU in the best way as the energy from the nuclear sources is less expensive and can be made available inside the states. More recycling programs are needed to be launched for the control of waste management. People should be made aware with the importance of recycling. The recycling should be made in access and easy for the people in order to encourage them to for the recycling of the products.
References
Bogusz, B. (2004) Irregular Migration and Human Rights: Theoretical, European and International Perspectives. Denver: Matinus Nijhoff Publishers, p. Bogusz, B. (2004) Irregular Migration And Human Rights: Theoretical, European And International Perspectives. Denver: Matinus Nijhoff Publishers, p.
Checchi, A. et al. (2009) Long-term Energy Security Risks for Europe: A Sector-specific Approach. CEPS Working Document, p.
Davies, P. (2004) European Union Environmental Law: An Introduction to Key Selected Issues. Hants: Ashgate Publishing Limited, p.
EU Focus., (2006), the EU and the Environment. European Union: Delegation of the European Commission to the USA. Available from: [Accessed: Nov 27, 2012]
Kekem, R. et al. (2005) Urban Issues and Urban Policies in the New EU Countries. Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing Limited, p
