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Egan, Michelle --- "The evolution of single markets in Europe and the United States" [2017] ELECD 285; in Koutrakos, Panos; Snell, Jukka (eds), "Research Handbook on the Law of the EU’s Internal Market" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 500

Book Title: Research Handbook on the Law of the EU’s Internal Market

Editor(s): Koutrakos, Panos; Snell, Jukka

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781783478095

Section: Chapter 22

Section Title: The evolution of single markets in Europe and the United States

Author(s): Egan, Michelle

Number of pages: 25

Abstract/Description:

The renewed attention to the single market in Europe, as evidenced by the various reports documenting the potential gains from further economic integration, have highlighted how it still remains the cornerstone of the European project. Though overshadowed by the sovereign debt crisis, there have been renewed efforts to highlight the single market as providing benefits of “growth without debt” in an era where Europe faces tremendous pressures in terms of productivity, competitiveness and employment. Research on the impact of the crisis indicates that Europe did not resort to import protection through increasing technical barriers to trade raising tariffs, and temporary trade protection measures. But as the effect of austerity measures to help debt-ridden states address their public finances generates internal disagreements and populist backlashes, the single market has increasingly been identified as the solution to lift Europe out of recession. In an effort to modernize and deepen the single market, Mario Monti produced a new strategic initiative that sought to address the erosion of political and social support, as well as the sense of complacency surrounding market integration that resulted in uneven implementation and compliance across different policy areas. Monti focused on the need to achieve some form of socio-political legitimacy, in the aftermath of European enlargement, and the difficult challenge of legal, political and economic “convergence” that underpins the integration project.