L'Union européenne de Paiements et la libération des échanges, instruments du développement économique en France

[eng] The E.P.U aud the Liberalisation of Trade were in the minds of their promoters the first two steps towards the building up of new European Economic System covering western continental Europe as twell as the U.K and the rest of the whole sterling area Those steps were to be followed by further measures iu other fields Actually they were the only two measures taken which aimed at the creation of single market in Europe The E.P mechanism was described in separate article published earlier in March 1954 In the present article the essential features of the liberalisation of trade are examined the principle of non discrimination the percentage of liberalisation method the common list the escape clauses the Steering Board for Trade The liberalisation of trade is not only tha justification of E.P.U but also its essential complement The combination of the two enabled Europe to progress thanks to the flexibility of the system towards single market despite the difficulties encountered in the world or in individual countries It was however argued that the results achieved were still inadequate when compared with the proposal to build up in Europe modern eco nomic system Other methods were proposed the Coal and Steel Pool the Convertibility of the currencies Both these methods although capable of bringing about certain degree of progress would finally sacrifice the original aim and probably create wide economic disequilibria Criticism of the E.P.U Liberalisation of Trade method is directed either against the mechanism itself or the fact that only inadequate com plementary measures were taken In both cases the remedies are at hand If applied they would enable all the european countries to progress rapidly towards the proposed objective without creating unbearable disequilibria in the world in Europe or in the individual countries themselves Applying such remedies depends solely on the governments concerned taking poli tical decisions