Showing papers on "European union published in 1973"

Trade Effects of the Association of African Countries with the European Economic Community

Abstract: On January 1, 1958, with the formation of the European Economic Community (EEC), 18 African countries that were colonies or territories of Belgium, France, and Italy became associate members. The arrangement for association provided the associated African countries (AACs) with tariff preferences on some of their exports to the EEC and created a special fund (the European Development Fund) to assist then financially in their development effort. In return, the AACs granted certain preferences on their imports from the EEC. Thus, the association established a preferential area between a group of industrial countries and several less developed countries. The present study analyzes the impact of the association on the trade pattern of the AACs and assesses its effects with respect to trade creation and trade diversion. The statistical analysis shows that the tariff preferences envisaged in the association have had only limited impact on overall trade flows between the AACs and the EEC and on the exports of nonassociated less developed countries to the European Common Market. This impact became more apparent after mid-1964, however, when the EEC imposed common external tariffs on some primary products that were of particular interest to the AACs, and the former French colonies dismantled quotas and extended tariff preference to their imports from the Common Market countries other than France. The association also seems to have induced a shift in the trade of the AACs from France to other countries of the EEC. One of the main factors behind the slow export performance of the AACs in the European Common Market was the limited tariff preferences that were extended to some of their major exports in this market and the piecemeal fashion in which they were granted during the first years of association; also, the products of the AACs that benefit from tariff preferences in the Common Market are tree crops, where supply responsiveness to tariff preferences is weak. The reverse preferences granted to the EEC by some of the associated countries were also marginal, and their restrictive effect on the imports of the AACs from countries outside the Common Market was diluted by the liberalization of imports in several associated countries. The evolution of the income elasticities of imports suggests that the association has caused some trade diversion, particularly with respect to those countries exporting primary commodities similar to the goods of the AACs that receive tariff preferences in the EEC. The effect of the diversion of trade has been limited, however, owing to institutional factors in the trade of several of the primary commodities involved and the limited tariff margins that were traded in the arrangement for association. /// Au 1er janvier 1958, date de l'entrA©e en vigueur du traitA© instituant la CommunautA© Economique EuropA©enne (CEE), 18 pays et territoires africains dA©pendant de la Belgique, de la France et de l'Italie se voyaient accorder le statut de membres associA©s A la CommunautA©. La convention d'association prA©voyait certaines prA©fA©rences tarifaires aux exportations des pays africains associA©s A destination de la CEE et la crA©ation d'un fonds spA©cial (Fonds EuropA©en de DA©veloppement) destinA© A promouvoir une aide financiA¨re au dA©veloppement de ces pays. Les pays africains associA©s accordaient en A©change certaines prA©fA©rences aux importations en provenance de la CEE. On assistait ainsi A la formation d'une zone d'A©changes privilA©giA©e liant un ensemble de pays industrialisA©s A plusieurs pays en voie de dA©veloppement. La prA©sente A©tude a pour but d'examiner les rA©percussions de cette association sur les A©changes commerciaux des pays africains en cause et d'A©valuer les effets dits de "crA©ation" et de "dA©tournement" de ces A©changes. L'analyse statistique montre que les prA©fA©rences tarifaires envisagA©es dans le cadre de l'association ont eu une influence limitA©e sur les A©changes commerciaux entre la CEE et les pays africains associA©s et sur les exportations des pays en voie de dA©veloppement non associA©s A destination de celle-ci. Cette influence a commencA© A se faire sentir vers le milieu de l'annA©e 1964, A la suite de la mise en vigueur par la CEE de tarifs extA©rieurs communs sur certains produits primaires d'un intA©rAat particulier pour les pays africains associA©s et de l'abolition par les anciennes colonies franA§aises du rA©gime des quotas et l'extension par celles-ci du systA¨me de prA©fA©rences tarifaires aux importations en provenance des pays du MarchA© Commun. L'association semble en outre avoir rA©orientA© une partie des A©changes extA©rieurs des pays africains, traditionnellement effectuA©s avec la France, vers les autres A©tats de la CEE. La croissance modeste des exportations des pays africains associA©s vers la CommunautA© EuropA©enne est principalement due au caractA¨re limitA© des prA©fA©rences tarifaires accordA©es A certaines exportations essentielles de ces pays et A l'absence d'une politique cohA©rente A cet A©gard pendant les premiA¨res annA©es de l'association. D'autre part, les produits des pays africains associA©s bA©nA©ficiant de prA©fA©rences tarifaires dans le MarchA© Commun sont ceux de l'arboriculture, dont l'offre n'est pas suffisamment A©lastique pour profiter de ces prA©fA©rences. Les prA©fA©rences accordA©es A titre de rA©ciprocitA© A la CEE par certains des A©tats associA©s ont, quant A elles, A©tA© marginales et leur effet restrictif sur les importations des pays africains associA©s en provenance de pays extA©rieurs au MarchA© Commun a A©tA© affaibli par la libA©ralisation des importations de plusieurs de ces pays. L'A©volution des A©lasticitA©s d'importation par rapport au revenu semble indiquer que l'association a provoquA© un certain dA©tournement des A©changes commerciaux, affectant plus particuliA¨rement les pays exportateurs de produits primaires analogues A ceux des pays africains associA©s qui bA©nA©ficient de prA©fA©rences tarifaires auprA¨s de la CEE. Ce dA©tournement n'a eu toutefois qu'une portA©e limitA©e, en raison de l'intervention de facteurs institutionnels dans les A©changes de certains de ces produits primaires et des marges tarifaires restreintes adoptA©es par la convention d'association. /// El 1 de enero de 1958, al constituirse la Comunidad EconA³mica Europea (CEE), 18 paA­ses africanos que eran colonias o territorios de BA©lgica, Francia e Italia pasaron a ser miembros asociados. En el arreglo de asociaciA³n se instituyeron preferencias arancelarias para algunas de las exportaciones de los paA­ses africanos asociados (PAA) a la CEE y un fondo especial (el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo) para ayudarlos financieramente en sus esfuerzos de desarrollo. A su vez, los PAA otorgaron ciertas preferencias para sus importaciones de la CEE. AsA­, la asociaciA³n estableciA³ una zona preferencial entre un grupo de paA­ses industriales y varios paA­ses menos desarrollados. En este estudio se analiza el impacto de dicha asociaciA³n en la estructura del comercio de los PAA y se evalAoan sus efectos en lo que respecta a la creaciA³n y el desplazamiento del comercio. El anAilisis estadA­stico indica que las preferencias arancelarias de la asociaciA³n sA³lo han tenido un impacto limitado en los flujos comerciales globales entre los PAA y la CEE y en las exportaciones de los paA­ses menos desarrollados no asociados al Mercado ComAon Europeo. No obstante, este impacto se hizo mAis patente despuA©s de mediados de 1964, cuando la CEE impuso aranceles exteriores comunes para algunos productos primarios de especial interA©s para los PAA, y las antiguas colonias francesas abolieron el sistema de cuotas y otorgaron preferencias arancelarias a sus importaciones de paA­ses del Mercado ComAon distintos de Francia. La asociaciA³n tambiA©n parece haber inducido un desplazamiento del comercio de los PAA de Francia a otros paA­ses de la CEE. Uno de los principales factores de la lenta marcha de las exportaciones de los PAA en el Mercado ComAon Europeo consistiA³ en las limitadas preferencias arancelarias que se concedieron en este mercado para algunas de sus principales exportaciones y en la forma fragmentaria en que se otorgaron durante los primeros aA±os de asociaciA³n; ademAis, la oferta de casi todos los productos de los PAA que gozan de preferencias arancelarias en el Mercado ComAon reacciona dA©bilmente ante ellas. Las preferencias inversas concedidas a la CEE por algunos paA­ses asociados tambiA©n fueron marginales, y su efecto restrictivo sobre las importaciones de los PAA de paA­ses que no pertenecen al Mercado ComAon se diluyA³, debido a la liberalizaciA³n de la importaciA³n en varios paA­ses asociados. La evoluciA³n de la elasticidad-ingreso de las importaciones sugiere que la asociaciA³n ha causado un cierto desplazamiento del comercio, especialmente en lo que respecta a los paA­ses que exportan productos primarios similares a los bienes de los PAA que gozan de preferencias arancelarias en la CEE. Sin embargo, el efecto del desplazamiento ha sido limitado, debido a factores institucionales del comercio de varios de los productos primarios de que se trata y a los reducidos mAirgenes arancelarios que se intercambiaron en el arreglo de asociaciA³n.

The economic origins of the association of some african states with the european economic community

Abstract: It is now more than twenty years since the Rome Treaty (1958) creating the European Economic Community (EEC) was signed. Eighteen African States were also associated with EEC at the signing of the Treaty. However, during that period numerous views have been expressed either for or against the special preferential treatment that was arranged for these eighteen African nations. Same of the arguments have been made without a proper understanding of the background leading to the association of these African States with the EEC. As a result, these viewpoints have been misleading to those people who are interested in African development problems and to observers in general.

The Development of European Regional Law of the Sea

Abstract: The development of regional law of the sea may be more practical than a new global order for the oceans and may be preferable to the extension of national maritime jurisdictions. The Common Market has taken two important steps towards creating a European system of maritime law: The Common Fisheries Policy and the EEC Commission's decision of 10 September 1970 to apply the Common Market treaty to the continental shelf. The Common Fisheries Policy of 20 October 1970, opened national territorial waters within the EEC to all Community fishermen and provided the foundation for the generation of Common Market fishing policy. The continental shelf decision brought the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons on the shelf within EEC regulations and supervision. The EEC has begun to co‐ordinate European Law of the Sea negotiations for the Santiago Conference. Other European organizations (the Bow Group, the Council of Europe, and the Western European Union) have proposed various non‐EED regimes for ma...

The Warsaw Pact: Institutional Dynamics within the Socialist Commonwealth

Abstract: Established in 1955 as a result of the Soviet effort to prevent West German rearmament through the Western European Union and to some extent as a counter to NATO’S decision to develop tactical nuclear weapons, the Warsaw Treaty Organization, more commonly known as the Warsaw Pact, stands as a multilateral political-military organization and the only example of such a regional defense alliance within the Eastern bloc. It was heralded by Moscow as the “main center” for coordinating the foreign policy of Communist states in Europe.

West-East Relations in Europe: Political Perspectives

Abstract: IT is already clear that the mid1970s will be a unique period in the history of postwar Europe, in that Europeans will be engaged in an active process of institution-building both within Western Europe and in the East-West or 'pan-European' dimension. This period will thus stand in marked contrast to the mid-1940s, with their optimistic hopes for East-West institution-building during the early years of the UN (of which the UN's Economic Commission for Europe-ECE-has survived since 1947 as the sole relic, and is probably destined to play a renewed role in the future); also to the mid-1950s, with their pronounced emphasis on creating institutions within each of the cold war blocs; and again to the mid-1960s, when the main institutional debate was an intra-Western one concerning the relations between the 'European' bodies, notably the European Economic Community (EEC), and the 'Atlantic' ones, particularly Nato. In contrast to each of these previous periods of history, the 1970s are clearly destined to witness the simultaneous pursuit both of Western European integration, and of the attempt to establish some institutional framework for the developing pan-European dialogue. In the former of these processes, the nine member-states of the enlarged Community will be attempting to carry out the commitment made at the Paris summit conference of October 1972 to create a 'European Union' by the year 1980. Although the precise nature of the 'Union ' representing the end result of this process remains shrouded in ambiguity, some of its components including a substantial degree of economic and monetary union and a consolidation of the common commercial policyare already fairly clear. In the years ahead, the Nine will obviously go through very considerable strains and conflicts about the nature of their West European construction, but the degree of consensus on the general direction of development is certainly strong enough to herald a period of Community-building comparable to the experience of the Six between 1958 and 1965.