Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- Part I The economics of the European Union
- 1 Old Europe, new Europe: the role of the European Union
- 2 A dispute over origins: the European view versus the American perspective
- 3 The customs union and the diversion of trade
- 4 The Common Agricultural Policy and reforms: feeding Europe and then some
- 5 The euro: the ultimate currency reform?
- 6 The European Central Bank in action
- 7 The single market: from eliminating non-tariff barriers to enforcing competition
- 8 The single market in labor: from refugees to Schengen
- 9 The single market in capital: from Bretton Woods to Maastricht
- 10 The EU inside and out: regional policy and development aid
- 11 The EU: the other economic superpower?
- Part II The economies of Europe
- Suggestions for further reading
- Index
7 - The single market: from eliminating non-tariff barriers to enforcing competition
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- Part I The economics of the European Union
- 1 Old Europe, new Europe: the role of the European Union
- 2 A dispute over origins: the European view versus the American perspective
- 3 The customs union and the diversion of trade
- 4 The Common Agricultural Policy and reforms: feeding Europe and then some
- 5 The euro: the ultimate currency reform?
- 6 The European Central Bank in action
- 7 The single market: from eliminating non-tariff barriers to enforcing competition
- 8 The single market in labor: from refugees to Schengen
- 9 The single market in capital: from Bretton Woods to Maastricht
- 10 The EU inside and out: regional policy and development aid
- 11 The EU: the other economic superpower?
- Part II The economies of Europe
- Suggestions for further reading
- Index
Summary
The adoption of the single currency in 1999 was considered the natural follow-up to the single market initiative, which had been declared operational from the end of 1992 with the ratification of the Treaty of Economic Union. But the success of the common currency has highlighted the incomplete implementation of the single market to date. While the EU Commission continues to urge further reforms to make the single market truly operational across national boundaries within the EU, an increasing number of special interest groups have raised objections to any EU measures that might increase competition for jobs. It is no coincidence, then, that delays in implementing single market directives and regulations are most noticeable for those countries within the eurozone that have experienced sluggish growth since the introduction of the euro – Germany, France, and Italy. In contrast, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Sweden – all remaining resolutely out of the common currency – are exemplary in transposing EU single market regulations and directions into national law. Even Norway and Iceland, remaining outside both the eurozone and the European Union to date, implement single market initiatives from Brussels more rapidly and more completely than France or Germany. The tradeoff between protectionism via national regulation versus protectionism via flexible exchange rates proves important in practice for European policy-makers.
Non-tariff barriers
The essential purpose of the Single European Act (SEA) was to remove the remaining barriers to trade among the partner countries within the customs union established in 1958.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Economics of Europe and the European Union , pp. 128 - 142Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007