It turned out not to be as free as we thought, but in 1993, thanks in large part to an initiative by the Blessed Margaret, a 'Single European Market' was created. Here labour, goods and services and capital had complete freedom of movement.
So anyone who is an EU citizen can work anywhere in the EU, a firm can sell their services anywhere in the EU and the people can put their money in any EU bank they like.
This encourages specialisation and trade, as a result everyone is better off. It is also encourages competition and will drive down prices because barriers to entry in the market have been reduced, benefiting consumers.
The Premier League at last lost a case where they had prosecuted a pub in Portsmouth for using a foreign decoder to watch football matches. It took the European Court to rule on this matter and today the High Court had to agree that the pub landlady should get her money back. The ruling - the exclusive deal with Sky contravenes Single Market legislation.
So the EU is not all bad!
No comments:
Post a Comment