Yet the brutal truth is that the European Union continues to support vested interests.  Tesco is prevented from importing Levis from outside Europe.  Who benefits from this?  Europe’s large and influential luxury-goods sector, which can continue to control who sells their products.

In the interest of the consumer, the EU should have eliminated the motor industry’s block exemption from the Treaty of Rome when it came up for renewal last year. Instead, it has been replaced with a muddled fudge, which has left the motor industry surreptitiously rubbing its hands with glee.  Who benefits? Not the consumer – price discrepancies are already widening again.  No, the winners are the national motor industries. Meanwhile, the EU does not stop national governments from giving large handouts to their national telcos.  All this means higher prices for the consumer.

More importantly, it means that the vast majority of suppliers suffer.  Markets, and routes to market, work best with straightforward, clear regulations, applied consistently and policed effectively.  This removes many of the risks of transacting business, such as those of misinformation, anti-competitive collaboration, settlement and delivery, etc.

The EU fails on all counts – clarity, enforcement and consistency. Add the dead hand of bureaucracy, and you have a regime crying out for reform. All this goes a long way towards explaining why European productivity rates remain 13% lower than those of the USA.

The EU needs to be transformed into a democracy that acts in the best interests of the broadest range of consumers and suppliers, and also provides a level playing field for competitive routes to market.  But don’t hold your breath.