EU lessons for Caricom

CARIBBEAN POLICY MAKERS would be watching with much interest what is happening in Europe, although they would not necessarily be discouraged by recent developments there. Apart from traditional trade ties, what this region has in common with that continent is a desire to gain strength through joint effort. Widely acclaimed as a model of international co-operation and unification of economic and political interests, the European Union (EU) has never claimed to be a perfect meeting of minds or of functions. Neither has Caricom or the wider Caribbean family.

To be sure, countries that make up the EU enjoy a common parliament as well as a court of appeal, but those institutions which must reflect the overwhelming will of the union which expanded first from six, tentatively to ten members, then 15 and now numbers 25. It would appear that overwhelming will is to be measured in successive referenda, the first in France and the other in Holland. The issue on which votes were required to indicate their preference is whether to adopt a draft EU constitution.

By massive majorities, founding members, the French and Dutch, rejected that proposal. This verdict has generated speculation as to whether a negative ballot by just two of the total EU membership should determine what is best for all. In principle, it cannot, but protocols establishing the union suggest otherwise. Unlike Caricom, the EU’s adoption of such a special document requires approval by all. And with France and Holland already saying a resounding “NO,” that draft is all but dead. Nevertheless, under the terms of the EU treaty all countries are still required to state their position in a matter of this sort.

This question of trying to build unity among neighbouring countries is very much on the Caribbean’s agenda as well. Like the EU, we are now an economic or trading community and like our European counterparts, we want to move towards free movement in a single market. As with us, it immediately became clear to the Europeans that it would take time for consensus. Different countries with different sovereignties as well as dissimilar levels of development would present a challenge to knit themselves into a cohesive union.

What the Caribbean is attempting to achieve in less than 15 years took the EU with its different cultures half a century to accomplish – and still there are hurdles to overcome so many years after signing the Treaty of Rome. The fact that it has been a very slow, tedious process for them should encourage Caribbean people not to despair that progress is less rapid than the promoters of a close-knit regional group, including a suspected majority of our populations, would like.  We must press on because at nearly every stage these unification movements suffer reverses. Let us see what other referendums in the EU will bring, and whether those events hold lessons for the Caribbean. (Courtesy the Barbados Nation)