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8. В заключение необходимо отметить: поступательное

развитие (onward) ЕС не означает отсутствия противоречий

или конкурентной борьбы. Значительные трудности

возникают в связи с диспропорциями в экономиках

новых стран-участниц союза — Польши, Литвы,

Латвии, Мальты, Болгарии и др. Имеются разногласия

(disagreements) и в подходах к использованию евро, в решении

проблем бюджетных дефицитов и в других вопросах.

Но в целом экономические и политические выгоды

интеграции очевидны.

the European Central Bank

with the note isuing authority •comon Western European

space

20.7. Development

20.7.1. Reading (skimming, scanning for subject and language study)

t t t

20.7.1.1. Read the text “Factor Market Integration” and explain how you understand the essence

of the problem of the free movement of labour in the EU.

Work in small groups.

Factor Market Integration

In terms of the stages of economic integration, the European Union has progressed beyond

the stage of a Customs Union. The Treaty of Rome (1957) called for the free movement of not

only goods and services but also of the factors of production (labour, business capital and enterprise).

The abolition of exchange controls, the Single European Act (SEA) and the movement

towards Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) have all helped to create some of the conditions

for the free movement of capital and enterprise. The different ways in which national governments

treat taxes on savings means that genuine free movement does not really exist, yet

much more progress has been made on the free movement of financial capital than on the free

movement of labour.

296

Up until the Single European Act, limited steps had been taken to ensure that labour was

freely mobile between member states. A number of important barriers to the free movement of

labour in Europe continue to exist. Indeed, it makes little sense to talk about a European labour

market. There are big differences in unemployment rates between member states. If labour were

truly mobile, such differences would be reduced over time. Negative integration, then, has done

little to remove the barriers to the free movement of labour and much more positive integration

needs to take place. The problem is that the positive integration measures introduced (or proposed)

have led to a great deal of tension in the EU, with past UK governments “opting out” of

measures like the Social Charter. In the social aspects of integration, there is very much a “pick

and mix” Europe.

Why is integration of the European labour market important? The main reason is that integrating

markets for goods and services makes little sense without labour market integration. The free

movement of goods, services and enterprise will create problems in some member states as resources

are re-allocated within Europe. Whilst there are benefits to economic integration, not all

countries or regions will benefit equally and some will lose out (rural areas and those regions in

which declining industries are located). Without labour market integration there is a danger that

governments will engage in dangerous competition with each other, watering down labour protection

laws for example. If employment conditions and social standards are not harmonised, labour

will migrate to the country with the lowest rates of income tax or the highest social security provisions

so-called social “dumping.” More “laissezfaire” economists argue that such competition