As we go to print, many Americans are wondering about the future of a united Europe. Following plebiscites where the voters of both France and the Netherlands said “no” to the proposed European constitution, the British government has decided to postpone its referendum on the European treaty.
What’s going on over there, and should we care? The answer, at least in my opinion, is yes, we should.
Change is always a frightening thing, especially change in the order of magnitude the Europeans are contemplating. Will they ever succeed in political unification? No one really knows — especially not the people who profess to know.
I don’t claim to have any special insight into the inner thoughts of Europeans. Despite the fact that I was born in Germany and have spent 13 years living in Germany and Italy, I’m an American, not a European. I have no idea, although I tend to be skeptical about their chances for political union.
| Eastern Europe is a region chock full of opportunity, as well as risk. The work force is reasonably well educated and labor costs are relatively low. The risk comes from the fact that these countries are still in a transition period, where their entire economic and political culture is being remade before our very eyes. |
I’ve heard people say that if the 13 colonies could put aside their differences and come together to form the United States of America, surely the Europeans can do the same. Are they serious? Whatever mistrust was built up during the century and a half of colonial American history pales in comparison to what the Europeans have created amongst themselves during the past 1,500 years.
Even if the years have washed away most of your memory about those European history classes you took in college, surely you remember that they argued and fought a lot.
One thing I know for certain is that the unification of Europe is not nearly as easy as it might appear to most of us observers across the Atlantic.
However, it’s not Europe’s political unification, but rather its economic unification, that stands to benefit us Americans most.
There is little doubt that the successful adoption of the euro several years back was an incredibly positive step for the world economy. So, too, is anything that breaks down artificial trade barriers. Europeans have shown an ability in the past to remove those barriers — or at least some of them, anyway — and there’s no reason to think that they can’t continue to do so, regardless of how the political unification efforts progress.
In my mind, though, the most important thing going on over in Europe these days, at least from a business perspective, is the integration of Eastern Europe. Sure, the transformation from a rigid socialist economy to a free market economy has not been easy, but the end result 10 to 20 years from now will be more than worth the hardships endured during the short run.
Eastern Europe is a region chock full of opportunity, as well as risk. The work force is reasonably well educated and labor costs are relatively low. The risk comes from the fact that these countries are still in a transition period, where their entire economic and political culture is being remade before our very eyes.
I believe the business opportunities in the countries of Eastern Europe are remarkably similar to what the states in the South and Southwest offered to U.S. businesses 30 years ago. Much of the infrastructure is being built as we speak, which means that it will have the advantage of being both modern and new, as will the factories and other facilities being built.
Think about the economic growth we saw in Japan and Western Europe in the decades following World War II and you’ll get the picture of what we’re likely to see in Eastern Europe during the next 10 to 15 years.
For most Americans, who consider any building more than 100 years old to be historic, Europe seems to be a place often trapped by its history and tradition.
While there may be a lot of truth to that viewpoint, it would be a major mistake for us to focus our attention on the soap opera of political unification of Europe and lose sight of the fact that Europe — or much of it, in any case — is being transformed economically with far less fanfare.
That’s where the real economic opportunity is.
Means the article is accessible only to our magazine subscribers.
