Beyond Europe: Integrated Markets in Other Parts of the World

Az alábbiakban részletet k?zlünk az EU Jog online szakfolyóirat 2024/2. számában megjelent cikkb?l.

The internal market of the European Union is the highest level of economic integration that we can find in the world. However, it is not the only international instrument for market integration. Both in Europe and beyond, we find many international organisations that aim at, and sometimes achieve, some degree of economic co-operation and integration. These may be classified as free trade zones, customs unions, common markets, economic unions, and currency unions. The EU is partly an economic union and partly, for the states of the Euro zone, a currency union. A comparative analysis of other international organisations reveals that the special feature of the EU is its supranationality, a feature that even the currency unions in the Caribbean and Africa lack.

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1. Introduction

[1] The European Union prides itself to have achieved a level of economic and other integration unique in the world. Especially the economic integration, the internal market tends to be qualified as unparalleled.

[2] Technically, this high level of integration is expressed in the supranational quality of the European Union. The European Union may take decisions binding in and for the member states even against individual member states’ will.

[3] It is interesting to see whether Europe’s supranational integration which culminates in the internal market qualifies as unique, or whether there are similar market integrations in other parts of the world. A comparative overview will help answer this question.

[4] Formally, the European Union is neither the only nor the oldest supranational organisation in the world. Some supranational bodies such as the Danube Commission, founded in 1856 and re-founded in 1948, are much older. Nevertheless, all other supranational organisations deal with a very narrow field of specialised tasks, such as the Danube Commission with navigation on one river basin. The European Union is the only supranational organisation with a wide field of competences. Member states have transferred sovereign rights in many different policies onto the EU, making the EU a supranational organisation of nearly ‘general competence’. This is in itself unique, as the following comparative analysis will show.

[5] The EU does not have, however, the competence to define its own competences. The ‘Kompetenz-Kompetenz’, as German doctrine calls it, remains with the member states that may or may not, in the treaties, transfer a given competence totally or partly onto the EU. Therefore, the powers of the EU are derivative, such as any international organisations’, and not original as the powers of a state are.

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2. Parameters of Comparison

[6] The EU and its internal market rely on a universal economic integration in the sense that it encompasses in principle all economic activities, all goods and services, labour and capital.

[7] In contrast, many economic international organisations concentrate on one product only, such as the International Cocoa Organisation or the Kimberley Processor are open to only one half of the market, e.g. the exporters, such as OPEC. In our comparative tour round the world, we will leave them aside because comparing a general economic organisation and a one-issue organisation would be comparing apples to pears. We will also leave aside the World Trade Organisation because its aim is not the economic integration of its member states but the co-ordination of their economic policies. So let us concentrate on economic integration mechanisms in a broader sense.

[8] When classifying such integration mechanisms, we can differentiate five different levels ranging from weak to intensive integration. The borders between these five levels are not always clear in individual cases, but they suffice to create a useful typology[1].

2. Parameters of Comparison

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[6] The EU and its internal market rely on a universal economic integration in the sense that it encompasses in principle all economic activities, all goods and services, labour and capital.

[7] In contrast, many economic international organisations concentrate on one product only, such as the International Cocoa Organisation or the Kimberley Processor are open to only one half of the market, e.g. the exporters, such as OPEC. In our comparative tour round the world, we will leave them aside because comparing a general economic organisation and a one-issue organisation would be comparing apples to pears. We will also leave aside the World Trade Organisation because its aim is not the economic integration of its member states but the co-ordination of their economic policies. So let us concentrate on economic integration mechanisms in a broader sense.

[8] When classifying such integration mechanisms, we can differentiate five different levels ranging from weak to intensive integration. The borders between these five levels are not always clear in individual cases, but they suffice to create a useful typology[1].

Szerz?: Herbert Küpper

[1] Markus Krajewski: Wirtschaftsv?lkerrecht. 5th edition. C.F. Müller, Heidelberg, 2021, 305-309.