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European Constitution Against (Economical) Raise of Europe

[01.11.2004, Peter Gonda, PAPERS AND STUDIES]

Acceptance of the European Constitution will ‚cement‘ causes of economic lagging behind of the EU countries, and make it a legal force of the highest priority, and binding on all citizens of the EU member states. Therefore it represents significant restrictions to competition and hereby also restriction of any potential economic ‚resurrection‘ in Europe.

The Draft Constitution for Europe arouses serious concerns for economists too. The anticipated effects of its possible acceptance on the economies of the countries to which it applies directly (European Union – EU) are the basis for the concerns. The Slovak frame of reference - as a former socialist country - accents them. The fact that the elaborated European Constitution deepens the EU trends which are more and more resembling the „planned societies“ of socialistic times is the reason for it.

The author of the contribution analyses and demonstrates specific provisions of the European constitution draft, and he documents the steps leading to the political centralization of the EU and the unification conditions which are being set from above, as well as the transfer of market regulations and a highly set of social rights from a national onto a European level. All this would result in a deepening of today´s economic problems, and a further falling of the EU countries behind more dynamic regions in the world, where more emphasis is put on personal freedom.

At the end of the contribution the author points out that if Europe wants to preserve its chance to experience a real economic raise (resurrection), it should come back to the roots of its wealth from the past - unlimited competition allowing variety and personal freedom to go hand in hand with personal responsibility. Therefore it is well justified to advocate none acceptance of any type of European Constitution especially when it is „spiced up“ with both market regulations and social rights.

Author is an economic analyst for the Conservative Institute of M. R. ©tefánik.

The contribution was presented at a conference organised by the Conservative Institute of M. R. ©tefánik and the Center for Politics and Economics from Prague Why the European Constitution Should Be Rejected which took place in Bratislava, Slovakia, on 11 October 2004.

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