Who should be responsible? - European Parliament



Who should be responsible for making the laws that affect us?

This worksheet will help you decide whether

you think the UK Parliament or the European

Parliament and the Council of Ministers should be

responsible for making decisions that affect

people living in the UK.

1. The film referred to three ways that EU law has affected the fish and chips on our plates. Can you remember what they were?

2. Read Joe and Tia’s opinions about who should be responsible for making decisions that affect them. In your own words, explain why Joe thinks it’s a good idea for EU member states to make rules together that have to be followed by all of them.

3. Do you agree with Joe or Tia? Explain your decision.

Who do you think should be responsible?

Read each issue below and think about whether the rules should be made by the UK Parliament or by the European Union. Be prepared to give reasons for your answers.

At the end of the day – it’s your opinion. What do you think?

| | | | |

|Issue |A National |The European Union should decide.| |

| |Parliament should decide. | |I’m not sure! |

| |I agree with Tia on this one. |I agree with Joe on this one. | |

| | | | |

|Corporal punishment in schools. This means punishing | | | |

|children using physical violence like a smack or a | | | |

|cane. | | | |

| | | | |

|The age at which young people are legally allowed to | | | |

|have sex (the age of consent). | | | |

| | | | |

|The amount of fish that fishermen in each country are | | | |

|allowed to catch. | | | |

| | | | |

|The levels of pollution that cars and businesses are | | | |

|allowed to generate. | | | |

| | | | |

|Whether or not drugs should | | | |

|be legal. | | | |

| | | | |

|How much sex and violence can be shown on TV. | | | |

| | | | |

|Whether the police can use torture when questioning | | | |

|suspects. | | | |

-----------------------

Tia

“The UK has its own parliament made up of MPs that we have elected. They should be allowed to make all the rules for this country without interference from the EU.

We don’t want other countries deciding what we should do here.

Why should EU policy affect how much farmers and fishermen charge for their products?”

“I think that as the UK is part of the EU and has elected members to the European Parliament to represent our views then we should accept its decisions. We live in a global society. Countries are now much more dependant on each other than they used to be. Anyway, when countries work on their own, they only take their own interests into account. They don’t think about how what they do affects others. Some things, like pollution, don’t stop at national borders.”

Joe

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download