Issues In European Economics 2005/2006
Economic integration between national countries can be defined as the removal of trade obstacles in the production and movement of goods between these countries. Integration does not stop there as furthermore common policies are introduced. Along with these policies comes governing bodies over these policies editing and modifying to better the collective group.
Integration between countries can be absolutely essential for survival in the world market. Over the past 50 years, superpowers like America and China have been dominating markets due to their huge supply of labour and other resources. Smaller countries did not have the capital nor the reputation to compete against these big firms. On top of that, the firms that raised enough capital to venture into foreign markets were hit with large trade tariffs and quotas, set by individual governments.
This effectively made profitable foreign projects almost impossible.
When the European Union was officially constituted in 1992 by the Treaty on European Union, a whole new means of national co-operation was set to pass. Certain aspects of today’s current European Union existed even before this Union was formed, however now an official and respected body has been formed to govern many economical areas with efficiency. This integration mainly focused on economic growth and prosperity.
A main activity of the EU is first the establishment and then after the administration of a collective single market, which effectively eliminates trade barriers between member states. Customs Unions, Common Agricultural Policies and other policies are then set up as part of this market. Some have adopted a single currency policy (The Eu ...