Regional Economic Integration is the act of cooperating countries entering into agreements with each other to remove all barriers to importing goods into their respective countries. One of the biggest walls to exporting to foreign markets has been tariffs and taxes levied against foreign nations who try to sell their products or services in other countries. Over the past 50 years, there has been a drastic increase in the number of countries that are trying to enter into these types of agreements. In other words, there has been a large movement towards Regional Economic Integration. There are two main arguments that support this integration. The first are economic considerations. Integration will allow countries to specialize in products or services that they are best suited to produce and sell them on a worldwide market without fear of huge barriers to entry into certain markets. This would actually lead to increased production around the world because countries will specialize in what they are good at and not worry about having to produce other things which would take them much longer or were not practical for them to produce at all. These countries know that they will be able to depend on other countries to produce the goods or services they need in exchange for their own specialized products and services. This increased production and specialization should also decrease the prices of things on a worldwide scale because countries will only produce what they are truly good at producing and will not waste time (as well as money) on producing inefficiently.
Key Words- The Single European Act, Obstacles to Integration and United front
[...] The ultimate goal of the Act and of the Union itself was to lower the cost of doing business in all of the EU nations thereby promoting growth and economic prosperity for all nations involved. One component of the Union was to implement a single unit of money, the euro. The establishment of the euro would eliminate all gains and losses due to currency exchange and it would establish a pricing standard that all nations will have to live by. [...]
[...] This will speed up the development and the advancement in technology and living conditions of the under developed countries. Overall, integration will be a win-win situation for any countries that participate. The second supporting reasons for integration are politically motivated. During World War I and World War II, the European countries suffered great losses in lives as well as land, buildings and money. By integrating themselves under one combined rule, they are hoping that it will deter any future violence by ultra nationalistic nations like the Germans or the Iraqi's. [...]
[...] The development of the European Union and the Regional Economic Integration will take a long time and will probably encounter some major obstacles but I feel that it will survive. Democracy is the driving force for the 21st century and also making money. The nations that are joining the Union as well as the nations the US is trying to integrate with will have to see that there is tons of money to be made if they will only stick to the rules. [...]
[...] Obstacles to Integration The major obstacle to complete European integration is the differences in politics and beliefs of neighboring countries that want to join the EU. The latest proposal addressed by the EU was expansion. Britain contested the inclusion of 4 new countries in the EU because it felt that this would lower their own voting power in the EU. Especially when the EU proposed something that they do not agree with. The other obstacles that arise against total integration mostly arise out of fear. [...]
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