Dream the Impossible: Eradicate EU Regulation!

The EU bureaucracy in Brussels is clearly a predator that cannot be tamed. Witness thousands of harmonizing regulations. EU is stifling the freedom to choose in the area rich with heterogeneous informal rules. The best evidence is that true free market intellectuals in Europe are joining the Centre for the New Europe. Are they stupid, misinformed, or smart? It is also heart-breaking to listen to Marty Laar’s stories about EU forcing a small country to give back hard won freedoms.

Here is what two free-market scholars had to say about EU. Anthony O’Hear: “EU is committed… first and foremost to the creation of itself, as a supra governmental authority, a task of Hegelian pretension and of Sovietic proportions.” And a leading American legal scholar Richard Epstein said the following about the proposed EU constitution shortly before its fiasco in 2005: “…it will take a political miracle for competition to play a powerful role in the affairs of the EU. By giving rights with one hand and taking them away with the other, this proposed EU Constitution lacks any clear definition and structure… But when the dust settles, there will be more government and less freedom for all… My recommendation is therefore this: Opt for the economic free trade zone and consign the EU Constitution to the dust heap.”

Taking all this into consideration, Montenegro should not join the heavily regulated EU. Brussels is producing hundreds of regulations almost daily. Those regulations raise the costs of production in Europe, keep cheaper products out, and thus create opportunities for profitable smuggling. By selling tomatoes that are not exactly Roman red, cucumbers that are too thin and bananas that have wrong curves, Montenegrins could earn lots of money. Moreover, they would also perform an important social function of making Europeans better off. In short, Montenegro has a choice. It could become a Macao of Europe or surrender its sovereignty to the likes of Prodi, Solana and Soros. Is the former possible? I do not know. However, I have learned one lesson in America: it is important to dream the impossible.


Mr Steve Pejovich is Prof. Emeritus at Texas A&M University.