Open Borders behind Closed Doors: The European Union and the South

Citation

Gamble, C.J. (1999), "Open Borders behind Closed Doors: The European Union and the South", European Business Review, Vol. 99 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ebr.1999.05499aad.003

Open Borders behind Closed Doors: The European Union and the South

Open Borders behind Closed Doors: The European Union and the South

Peter PennartzInternational BooksUtrecht, The Netherlands199761pp.ISBN 90-5727-005-6£8. 99Distributed by Jon Carpenter, The Spendlove Centre, Charlbury, Oxfordshire 0X7 3PQ

Keywords EU, International trade, The Netherlands

Although written from a Dutch perspective, the ten most internationally competitive sectors of the Dutch economy being cut flowers, eggs, pigs, bulbs, milk, cocoa powder, fresh tomatoes, natural gas, potatoes, cocoa butter, it has relevance for UK readers. It chirpily derides the EU restrictions and directives or regulations by means of cartoons. A naïve cartoon character asks apparently simple questions to shed light on obvious problems, such as import restrictions through tariff (i. e. tax) impositions, the protection given to European farmers and manufacturers of clothes.

The EU imports raw materials such as cocoa which it cannot produce, but restricts the importing of cocoa products such as chocolate, the production of which gives employment to EU citizens, but consequently deprives the cocoa producing countries of work. Thus the ACP (Africa-Caribbean-Pacific) countries provide cheap raw materials, in the name of free-trade. Protectionism is the name of the game.

This is an amusing little book which conveys a serious message with a great deal of humour and scepticism. Do you know why you can only find Kenyan beans in European supermarkets when it is winter in Europe? See page 28 for the answer.

Cynthia J. Gamble