The single market and trade policy are Europe's major economic achievements and its best assets in times of increasing globalisation. European integration, as well as any other regional integration, ...is impossible without these two policies, which are a good example of how to implement a positive form of globalisation. They represent an engine for growth and building a more competitive EU economy. The single market and trade policy, by allowing people, goods, services and capital to move more freely through both Member States and the world, open up new opportunities for citizens, workers, businesses and consumers, creating the jobs and growth Europe so urgently needs. This collection of essays addresses the various facets of these two pillars of European integration. A more efficient single market creates the conditions for a more open trade policy, and vice-versa. Growth has been lacking in Europe in recent years, and enhancing these two assets is the most fruitful way to find it again.
Francesco Forte dedicated three books to the figure of Luigi Einaudi. The first was published in 1982, the second in 2009, and the third in 2016. Through these books he provides a comprehensive ...analysis of the liberal thought of Einaudi. This article focuses on Forte’s exploration and comments regarding Einaudi’s views and proposals for the European Federation (Einaudi 2011) and the European Central Bank’s unconventional monetary policy. Forte’s analysis of Einaudi has the merit of exalting one of the most prominent and lesser known features of his thought. Einaudi appears as the architect of what we call today the European Union. However no historian, economist, or politician has ever recognized the fundamental role of Einaudi. This lack of recognition should be extended to the Eurotower banker whose unconventional monetary policy has drawn so much from Einaudi’s theory of financial stability.
In his two pivotal works:
For an European Economic Federation
(1943) and
The Economic Problems of the European Federation
, (1944) written just before and during his Swiss exile, Luigi Einaudi listed ...the mandatory tasks of the European Federation. This would only be a start, for as he warned, only later experience would show whether or not the list should be extended. Einaudi does not mention any specific criteria to be used to select tasks for the European Federation. Using the principles of subsidiarity and fiscal federalism, this paper first analyses Einaudi’s allocation of competences to the European Federation. Comparisons are also drawn to his 1944 conclusions and other works on European Union (EU) competencies published nearly sixty years later. The second part of the paper deals with Einaudi’s recommendations on taxes to be levied by the Federation. He was skeptical of the system of transfers from member states to the Federation, but supported a system with its own autonomous resources. Today, this is a topical problem for financing the EU’s budget. The third part deals with Einaudi’s view on public deficits. Thanks to his work as member of the Italian Constituent Assembly, a principle advocating balance between spending and resources was introduced into the Constitution. As President, he interpreted this article as implying the equilibrium between income and expenses. Einaudi therefore anticipated the fiscal discipline introduced at the EU level with the Maastricht treaty in the nineties, and lately in several member state national constitutions. The fourth part assesses the results of EU’s fiscal discipline. Success in reducing the deficit and stabilizing the public debt before the crisis is undeniable. However, a balanced budget was achieved more by tax increases than through the reduction of expenditures. This occurred because of the “missing criterion” of Maastricht. In conclusion, the paper presents and discusses this criterion.
Textile and clothing industry in the EU is, since the beginning of 2005, facing a free competition world. In the past decades has been widely protected. However after the Marrakesh Agreement of 1994 ...the final stage of liberalization begun and came to an end at the end of 2004. In these years Chinese industry has grown preparing itselffor competing in the free international market. The same we cannot say of the EU industry that has missed to implement major adjustments and changes. For this very reason the industry is facing increasing difficulties to face the fierce competition of China's production. In the first half of 2005 there have been strong possibilities for a trade war between EU and China. The solution has been found in the Agreement signed by the two parties on June 10, 2005.
The Italian classical liberal tradition of Federalism and European integration is well founded. Starting with Luigi Einaudi, who took up the heritage of Carlo Cattaneo, it has continued with Giovanni ...Malagodi, Giovanni Demaria, and Bruno Leoni, not to mention the liberals of Einaudi’s times. The same reflection continues today. Alberto Alesina is a prominent personality among the scholars who can be considered as full heirs of Einaudi. A foresight, often impressive, is the thread linking Einaudi’s writings on European federation. Between the twenties and the early fifties of the 20th century, Einaudi traced with great precision the profile and many details of a politically and economically unified Europe. Today, we do not have the federation that he wished for, but the economic sovereignty among EU countries has been shared to a great extent. Other prominent Italian liberal thinkers and politicians have reflected on the idea of a federal Europe and on the incipient European construction: thinkers such as Bruno Leoni, Giovanni Malagodi and Giovanni Demaria. Giovanni Malagodi, for many years a member of the Italian Parliament and secretary general of the Italian Liberal party, in his speech for the ratification of the Treaty of Rome, advocated a European monetary union with a single currency substituting those of the Member States of the EEC. Both Giovanni Demaria and Bruno Leoni warned against the danger of Government interventionist policies in the European common market. Alesina, in various scholarly contributions on European integration and in the essay
The Future of Europe,
adopts a liberal perspective for his critical analysis of EU policies.
Throughout his professional life, Luigi Einaudi produced a long series of writings dedicated to the European Federation. The first was in 1887, the last in 1954. There are thirteen works where he ...designs the policies and the institutions of the European Federation. These works are the source of this paper, whose aim is to show the astonishing capacity of Einaudi to anticipate future developments of the European integration process. Several of his proposals are now embedded in the various treaties which have landmarked the history of a united Europe. His work has never received due attention by scholars and policy makers. This paper provides an interpretation of this lack of attention. The conclusion is that the still unrealized proposals of Einaudi are a source of inspiration in designing the future of the Eu. Tout au long de sa vie professionnelle Luigi Einaudi a produit une longue série d'écrits consacrés à la Fédération européenne. Le premier écrit en 1887, le dernier en 1954. En total treize travaux où il conçoit les politiques et les institutions de la fédération européenne. Ses écrits représentent la source du présent travail dont le but est de mettre en évidence la capacité étonnante d'Einaudi d'anticiper des futurs développements du processus d'intégration européenne. Plusieurs de ses propositions sont maintenant enfoncées dans les différents traités qui marquent l'histoire de l'unification européenne. Son travail n'a jamais reçu l'attention due par les savants et les politiciens. Ce travail fournit une interprétation pour ce manque d'attention. La conclusion est que les propositions d'Einaudi qui n'ont pas encore trouvé lieu dans les traités représentent une source d'inspiration pour le futur de l'Ue.
European single market for goods is a reality for almost 20 years. EU internal borders are no more an obstacle to trade. However in case of services the situation is quite different. A real and ...effective single market has still to be created. The reason relies with the removal of the state of origin principle from the Services Directive. This principle is of basic importance in making permeable the EU internal frontiers to services providers. Affected by global crisis the EU is looking for more growth. Services represent the 75% of aggregate GDP of EU27, around 9 trillion euro in 2011. However less than 0.7 trillions are traded through the EU borders, namely 7.4%. Europe needs a much more integrated service market in order to improve its growth performance.The main drawback of the Service Directive is the alteration of the level playing field. Indeed a contradiction of the single market logic. Masked under the alleged reason of avoiding social dumping, the attempt to maintain rent seeking sector has been successful, but just for a tiny minority of privileged agents at the expenses of the huge majority of European citizens. The sine qua non condition is the implementation of the deleted country of origin principle. But there is no move in this direction.
The single European market, product of the European Coal and Community and of the EEC, is a construction that has its base in the classical liberal doctrine. Its benefits were explained by Einaudi in ...1944. The so-called fathers of Europe, belonging to different political cultures (Christian democrat, socialist and communist) had to draw from liberal doctrine to build the common market. Planning for Hayek, as for Einaudi, it is a beautiful word when it describes the action of an individual, but it is harmful in the hands of the State. The results of the single market, through his history, say that when European policy makers tried to replace the invisible hand for planning or for the Keynesian State interventionism, ineffectiveness, wastes or resources, destruction of wealth and job have followed. The European single market has delivered its best results when the free market mechanisms have worked freely.
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