Abstract
After the revolutions of 1989, for the first time since before World War I, it is possible to envisage the complete open integration of the European economy. Two terrible World Wars, and the rise of Fascism and Hitler, prevented a consideration of the European economy as a whole. After World War II, as Communism advanced in the wake of the Red Army, the continent was divided by the Iron Curtain. Until recently, for eighty years, as Europe has been divided and ravaged by war, it has been impossible to contemplate the prospects for a market economy integration of the whole European economy. In this paper I want to consider the full integration of the European economy, including not only the countries in western Europe (in the European Union and the European Free Trade Association), but the former communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe. To what extent is it feasible to have an integrated free-market and free-trading European economy from the Atlantic to the Urals (to use the famous phrase of French President, Charles de Gaulle)?1
European Journal (May 1996).
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Notes
I have analysed this prospect in previous works. See M. Holmes, ‘Eastern Europe and the EEC’, in P. Minford (ed.), The Costs of Europe (Manchester University Press, 1992);
M. Holmes, Beyond Europe (Nelson & Pollard Publishing, 1993), Chs 7–10.
For an excellent analysis of this process see P.J.J. Welfens and P. Jasinski, Privatisation and Direct Foreign Investment Transforming Economies (Dartmouth, 1994)
See also W.A. Adams and J.W. Brock, Adam Smith goes to Moscow (Princeton University Press, 1993)
For this problem and other legacies of communism see AA Elizabeth and Jan Winiecki, The Structural Legacy of the Soviet-type Economy (CRCE, 1992).
See J. Beksiak et al., The Polish Transformation (CRCE, 1990).
For a general overview of the region, see R.J. Crampton, Eastern Europe in the 20th Century (Routledge, 1994).
See M. Holmes, From Single Market to Single Currency Evaluating Europe’s Economic Experiment (Bruges Group publication, 1995, Chapter 5 in this volume);
D. Marsh, Germany and Europe: The Crisis of Unity (Mandarin, 1996),
R. Bideleux and R. Taylor (eds), European Integration and Disintegration: East and West (Routledge, 1996).
See Brian Reading, The Fourth Reich (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1995).
See M. Holmes (ed.), The Eurosceptical Reader (Macmillan, 1996).
See D.G. Johnson, Less than Meets the Eye: The Modest Impact of CAP Reform (CPS, 1995).
For an excellent overview see A. Oxley, The Challenge of Free Trade (Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990).
This point is also addressed by Brian Hindley, ‘Trade Policy of the European Community’, in Brian Hindley, The Costs of Europe (Manchester University Press, 1992).
David Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (Pelican Books, 1971 edn).
For a critical appraisal of the Spanish economy, see O. Holman, Integrating Southern Europe: EC Expansion and the Transnationalisation of Spain (Routledge, 1996).
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© 2001 Martin Holmes
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Holmes, M. (2001). The European Economy East and West: Convergence or Divergence? (1996). In: European Integration. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230510753_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230510753_6
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