“Nous Choisissons L’Europe”: EU’s Economic Development and Current Challenges

Abstract

EU member states can no longer remain competitive in isolation given the current interdependencies at the international level. We analyse in this chapter the trade tendencies in the European Union, and we show the relatively large distance between Germany as the European top exporter and importer, and the following economies. We also analyse economic relations between member states that are designed to respond to non-EU challenges. We find that national member states engage in more collaborative and transnational development strategies for the coming years as a survival strategy in the current international context. Finally, we show how dependent the EU states have become on the single market by looking in depth at a case study of the United Kingdom's trade relations.