Discuss the extent to which economic integration within the EU has Essay - 1

Discuss the extent to which economic integration within the EU has been subordinated to the achievement of political objectives - Essay Example World War; the legal, economic and political framework of the EU is rooted in the Franco-German tradition, which has lent itself to EU tensions with the political agendas of certain other member states such as Britain (Lippert, 2001, p.114). The fragmentation of the single monetary union and the EU agenda with national political agendas has become increasingly prominent in relation to the EU enlargement programme particularly with the controversial Turkey accession question remaining uncertain (Lahav, 2004, p.113). Indeed, Artis & Nixon suggest that the EU’s economic objectives in the last decade have reached crisis point on grounds of the bicycle theory paradigm, where there is a â€Å"slowing of momentum precedes collapse, or in this case crisis† (Artis & Nixon, 2007, p.1). In supporting their proposition, Artis and Nixon comment that as follows: â€Å"the list of setbacks is rather a long one. The negative outcomes of the referenda on the European Constitution in France and the Netherlands in 2005 must head the list because of their symbolic significance†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ these cannot but induce a loss of confidence in the viability of the European Union† (2007, p.1). They further argue that the EU relies on co-ordination and mutual co-operation of states and that the enlargement of the EU and free movement within the labour market rules has fuelled numerous derogations from certain member states (2007). This in turn has raised the question as to the extent to which national political objectives are actually taking precedence to EU economic objectives. For example, Artis and Nixon refer to the fact that many member states opt out or derogate or suspend certain obligations to address national political agendas such as certain member states derogating from the free movement of workers provisions for a period of seven years and the conditions of former communist Eastern European states as part of EU enlargement (2007). With regard to the latter, the continuation of the