Industry and the Common Market

Abstract

There can be little doubt that EEC has been beneficial to the industrial development of its founder members. The enormous increase in trade amongst the Six and with non‐member countries has generated a favourable climate for investment which in turn has generated a more‐than‐average increase in industrial production and in the GNP. Up to now, serious difficulties have not been encountered and existing safeguard clauses have hardly ever been applied.In order to look at the practical impact of EEC for the industry of the new member states, the paper examines some of EEC's achievements particularly important for industry: commercial policy; association policy; free movement of labour; competition policy.For other Community policies only general guidelines have been decided and confirmed by the Paris Summit Conference of the Nine in October 1972. The most important blueprints actually under discussion concern Economic and Monetary Union, Regional Policy, Industrial Policy, Energy Policy. These policies are likely to have a more important impact on European industry than what EEC has done so far. They aim to constitute, by 1980, a zone, where persons, services and capital would move freely, but without distorting competition or creating regional imbalances and where enterprises could develop their activities on a Community scale. The new member states will fully participate in the definition of these policies.