The classical liberal framework on European economic integration should be concerned with three major issues:

1. European economic integration is contradictory to the principles which guarantee individual liberty. It contributes to regressive economic performance and living standards in Europe in comparison with the more dynamically developing regions (e.g. in Southeast Asia or North America).

2. The continuation of the launched and ongoing trend in the economic integration of Europe may only deepen these negative features.

3. The alternative, consistent with classical liberalism and conservatism, which might reverse the negative trend and bring the people more freedom and prosperity, is a return to the values which constituted the source of wealth of individuals and, thereby, nations in Europe in the past (for instance, in England during the second half of the 19th Century).

Author is an economist for the Conservative Institute of M. R. Štefánik and external lecturer at the Comenius University and the City University in Bratislava (Slovakia).

The contribution was published in May-June 2007 issue of The European Journal.

The full text is available here as an Adobe Acrobat PDF.