About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

LOG IN
LOG IN


28 J. Common Mkt. Stud. 1 (1989-1990)

handle is hein.journals/jcmks28 and id is 1 raw text is: Journal ofCommon Market Studies Volume XXVIII, No. 1 September 1989 0021-9886 $3.00 Customs Union Enlargement and Adjustment: Spain's Accession to the European Community* ROBERT C. HINE Universiy ofNottingham, and College ofEurope, Bruges 1. CUSTOMS UNION ENLARGEMENT AND ADJUSTMENT With Spain's entry to the European Community (EC) in 1986, tariff- and quota-free trade throughout Western Europe in manufactured goods and to a large extent in agricultural products was in prospect. The Community itself is on the threshold of major change with the ambitious plan to create a Single Market by 1992. For Spain and its EC partners these developments will set in train a complex process of adjustment. In the short term, Spain and its EC partners have to come to terms with the adjustment problems created by Spain's membership of the EC customs union. These problems are particularly severe because Spain is both a large and heavily protected country, and a relatively poor one. The required tariff changes are markedly asymmetric because most of Spain's exports to the EC already had relatively liberal access before 1986, whereas Spain's imports from all sources were heavily restricted. Over the longer term, the nature of the specialization process in the European economy will have important implications for adjustment. Will the Spanish economy, for example, come increasingly to resemble those of Spain's European partners, or will a more complementary relationship of inter-industry specialization develop? *An earlier version of this paper was presented at a Conference on 'Economic Aspects of Regional Trading Arrangements', Lehigh University. The paper benefited by discussion at the conference, and in particular from the comments ofH. Grubel and D. Greenaway; thanks are due also toJ. A. Salmurri and to the two anonymous referees for their helpful advice.