Growing Frictions
Since the early years of the common market, the Community legal order has focused on removing obstacles to the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital; in other words, on creating a single market. Social protection remained in place in national legislation; harmonisation was sought where politically feasible, but ‘Europeanisation’ has remained limited in this domain. Free competition was promoted through a European-level anti-trust policy and by counteracting preferential treatment by national governments. As a Member State of the European Union, the Netherlands is part of an internal and external economy of unprecedented power, with more than half a billion consumers and a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 14,714 billion euros (2015), the largest GDP in the world. Two thirds of the EU’s trade in goods takes place between EU countries, with a volume of 3070 billion euros (2015). Approximately 72% of Dutch goods exports (measured in terms of their value) go to EU countries, and more than half of its imports come from EU countries (2015). With the removal of barriers as the starting point, the Netherlands, like its neighbouring countries, is closely intertwined with its European biotope. Dutch legislation is embedded in European legislation in almost every area, and in fact it must be, because differences would be susceptible to exploitation in the single market. Even technical requirements for appliances must not differ too much from country to country, as they would otherwise create an obstacle to European trade or give one or other country an undesirable competitive advantage. Since the reforms of recent decades, virtually all relevant legislation is the result of joint decision-making by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, at the initiative of the European Commission. The Member States are represented in the Council by a minister; decisions are taken by qualified majority, which means that for a decision to pass, at least 55% of the Member States, representing at least 65% of the population, must be in favour of it. The weekly