Students given firsthand look at emerging European Union

Wednesday, Sept. 8, 1999 | 9:39 a.m.

A political science professor at Community College of Southern Nevada and an entourage of 14 people received quite an education when they toured Europe in July.

"We had a very interesting discussion about drugs in Amsterdam. We got to attend a trial in The Hague, Netherlands, for a man charged with war crimes in Bosnia. We got to go to the International Court of Justice in Luxembourg and actually sit in the chairs of the justices," CCSN professor Lee Miller said. "The justices of the Supreme Court of the United States won't let you sit in their chairs."

Miller led an educational expedition that included seven students, a state senator and his wife and a number other Nevadans who spent three weeks traveling around Europe following an agenda that Sen. Harry Reid's office helped arrange.

"The Europeans rolled out the red carpet for us wherever we went," Miller said.

A discussion on the issue of drug policies in Amsterdam left an imprint on Miller.

"Drugs are treated as a public health problem rather than a criminal problem in the Netherlands," Miller said. "Rather than spending billions to build prisons, as we are doing in America, they spend their money on a lot of outreach programs to treat the addicts. The atmosphere is to try to get people off drugs as opposed to criminalizing the behavior."

Miller said his party gained firsthand knowledge of the emerging European Union, which in many respects will resemble the United States in its makeup and will be an economic competitor to America.

"We had a very good exchange of information, spending about half of our time in the European Union," he said.

The group learned about the emerging European government, the European Central Bank and the court system that will deal with anything related to economic and trade issues in the 15-member organization.

The new currency, the Euro, will be in circulation within a year or two and is already used in electronic exchanges.

The central currency will replace the currency used by most of the members of the union. Miller said Great Britain, Denmark and Sweden have chosen not to use the Euro.

The new union has dealt with issues of workers' rights, environmental regulations and trade. It is still dealing with issues involving common foreign and defense policies.

The presidency of the union rotates every six months, with each member nation filling the office.

A commission runs the day-to-day business of the union.

"The presidency, as an institution, provides guidance for policy," Miller said.

Miller said the union has the potential of having a dramatic impact on the American economy.

"European countries have great reserves of American dollars," he said. "As the Euro is coming into being, it may be prudent to reduce their reserve of dollars and increase their reserve of the Euro, which could depreciate substantially the value of the dollar against the Euro."