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第三课 地区经济一体化REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION
The past decades witnessed growing importance of regional economic integration. To better enjoy the benefit of tree flow of goods, services, capital, labour and other resources, countries have signed various agreements to liberalize trade among themselves while possibly putting up barriers to economic activities with non-members.
过去几十年，地区经济一体化的作用越来越重要。为了更好地分享商品，服务、劳动力以及其他资源自由流动带来的好处，各国签署了各种协议，促进成员国贸易自由化。与此同时很可能设置和非成员国间经贸活动的壁垒。
Regional economic integration falls under four types given below in the order from least to most integrative:按照一体化程度的高低，地区经济一体化有以下四种形式
The first and loosest form is the free trade area. Members of a free trade area removes barriers to the flow of goods and services among themselves while each member still adopts its own policy as regards to trade with outsiders (non-members). In other words different members may have different tariff rates or quota restrictions. Consequently, non-member countries may take advantage of this situation and try to enter the market of the area from the member country with the lowest barrier before selling the goods to a member with a higher barrier. The most notable free trade area is the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the largest free market formed by the United States, Canada and Mexico in 1991 with over 360 million consumers and a total GDP of more than 6 trillion US dollars.
第一种形式是自由贸易区，一体化程度最低。自由贸易区成员扫除了成员间商品，服务自由流动的障碍，但同其他国家进行贸易活动时，各成员仍采用自己的贸易政策。换句话说，各成员的关税税率或配额限制可能不同。因此，非自由贸易区成员可以充分利用这一点，从贸易壁垒较低的成员国进入自由贸易区市场，再将货物卖给贸易壁垒较高的成员国。1991年，由美国，加拿大，墨西哥签订的北美自由贸易协定（NAFTA）
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形成了世界上最著名的最大的自由贸易区，拥有3亿6000万消费者，国内生产总值（GDP）共达6万多亿美元。
The second form is the Customs Union that goes a step further by adopting the same trade policy for all the members toward countries outside their organization in addition to abolishing (removing) trade barriers among themselves. Since imports from other countries are subject to the same tariff no matter which member they export to, it is impossible for non-members to get into the market of the customs union in a detour as they possibly do in the case of trade with a free trade area. Such an example is Mercosur formed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay in 1991.
第二种形式是关税同盟，它的一体化程度比自由贸易区高。除消除成员间的贸易壁垒外，所有成员对外都实行相同的贸易政策。无论向哪个成员国出口，所有货物都适用统一的关税。所以在自由贸易区条件下，非成员国绕过高关税进入贸易区市场的做法，在关税 同盟条件下是行不通的。1991年由巴西，巴拉圭和鸟拉圭创建的MERCOSUR是关税同盟的一个例子。
The common market is further up the scale of regional economic integration. Besides free movement of goods and services and adoption of common external trade policy, factors of production such as labour, capital and technology are free to move among members so that they can be utilized in a more efficient and productive way. The overall benefit enjoyed by all the members as a whole is quite obvious, but it is hard to say individual members will always benefit, still less to expect them to enjoy the advantage of factor mobility (movement; flow) to the same degree. In the past, the European Community remained a common market for some years.
共同市场的经济一体化程度更高。不仅商品，服务能够自由流动，实行共同的对外贸易政策，而且生产要素，如劳动力，资本，技术也可以在各成员间自由流动，以更好的利用这些生产要素提高效率。虽然共同市场总体收益明显，但很难说单个成员
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总会受益，更不能期望生产要素自由流动给每个成员带来同等的利益。过去多年，欧洲共同体就是一个共同市场。
The highest form of economic integration is called the economic union which is characterized by integration of the domestic policies of its members in respect of economy, finance etc. in addition to absence of trade barriers, practice of common external policy and free production factor mobility. The members of an Economic Union are required not only to harmonize their taxation, government expenditure, industry policies, etc, but also use the same currency. With the adoption of the single European currency euro by most members of the EU, we can say it is well on its way towards the realization of an economic union.
一体化程度最高的是经济联盟。其成员不仅清除贸易壁垒，实行统一的对外经贸政策，实现生产要素自由流动，而且统一协调各国在经济，金融等领域的国内政策。经济联盟的成员不仅要在税收，政策开支、产业政策等方面保持一致，而且还要使用统一的货币。随着欧盟多数成员国使用同一欧洲货币-欧元，可以说欧盟正在向经济联盟大步迈进。
It can be seen that the member countries of an economic union are required to surrender some of their national sovereignty, which is eroding the tradition of the world political system based on the autonomy and supreme power of sovereign states. So people begin to talk about a still higher form of integration —— the political union, members of which will not only be integrated economically, but also harmonize their foreign policy and national defence. With that realized, the members would more or less come together and form a new political entity.
显然经济联盟的成员国要放弃部分国家主权。这正在削弱传统的世界政治体制，因为这种体制是建立在主权国家拥有最高自主权基础上的。于是人们开始谈论更高层次的一体化-政治联盟。其成员不仅在经济上融为一体，而且在外交政策和国防上也
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保持一致，如果这得以实现，成员国基本上走到一起形成了一个新的政治实体。
The European Union is so far the most prominent (outstanding) example of regional economic integration in the world. Its history dates back to the early post-war years. The first community, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was established in 1952, which set the stage for more ambitious integration efforts. The signing of the monumental Treaty of Rome in 1957 marks the establishment of the European Economic Community with the aim of gradually realizing the free movement of goods, services, labor and capital as well as the integration of economic policies of the member countries. Ten years later in 1967, the European Community was formed by merging EEC, ECSC and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM). 1992 was a landmark year in the development of the EC when it became a true common market as envisaged by the Single European Act. Then on January 1, 1994 the European Union (EU) came into being on the strength of the Maastricht Treaty. By then EU had 12 members including the six signatories of the Treaty of Rome. France, Germany, Italy, the Benelux countries and six other countries that joined later. (Britain, Ireland and Denmark in 1973, Greece in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986). The membership increased to 15 with the participation of Austria, Finland and Sweden in 1995. From the beginning of 1999 most of the members began to use the common European currency for accounting and settlement and in 2002, euro banknotes and coins were put into circulation.
欧洲联盟是迄今为止世界上区域经济一体化是显著的例子，其历史可以追溯到战后初期。最早的共同体-欧洲煤钢共同体成立于1952年，它为更宏伟的一体化努力准备了条件。 1957年具有历史意义的《罗马条约》答订，标志着欧洲经济共同体成立，其目标是逐步实现商品、服务、劳动力，资本自由流动并统一成员国的经济政策。10年后，即1967年，欧洲经济共同体，欧洲煤钢共同体和欧洲原子能共同体合并成为 欧洲共同体。在欧洲共同体的发展史上，1992年是个里程碑。这一年《马斯特里赫特条
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约》，1994年1月1日，欧洲联盟诞生了。那时，欧盟拥有12个成员国，其中6个是《罗马条约》的签署国，即法国，德国，意大利和比荷卢三国，6个是后来加入的（英国，爱尔兰，丹麦1973年加入；希腊1981年加入；西班牙，葡萄牙1986年加入）。1995年，随着奥地利，芬兰和瑞典的加入，欧盟成员国发展至15个。1999年初 ，多数欧盟成员开始使用欧洲统一货币结算，支付。2002年，欧元纸币和硬币开始流通。
The European Union is a full-fledged entity. Its executive body is the European Commission composed of 20 commissioners overseeing (supervise) 23 departments in charge of different affairs. Though appointed by member governments, the commissioners are responsible to the Union instead of their home country.
欧洲联盟是一个机构齐全的实体。欧盟委员会是它的执行机构，有20个委员，管理23个负责不同事务的部门。尽管委员会成员国政府任命，但委员只对欧盟负责，而不是对自己的国家负责。
The most powerful institution (body) of the EU is the Council of Ministers. It has the final say on all important matters. Decisions of the council are made by votes allocated to member countries on the basis of their size. Different ministers attend the council meetings depending on the matters discussed. The council even has the power to pass legislation, which is quite different from the case of all the major countries of the world. 欧盟中权力最大的机构是部长理事会，它对所有重大事情有最终决定权。部长理事会的决定由投票产生，按照成员国大小分配投票数额。根据会议讨论的问题，不同的部长出席不同的会议。部长理事会甚至还有权通过立法，这和世界上主要国家的情况不同。
The European Parliament, despite the title, is but an advisory body with limited power. However, it is empowered to veto EU membership application and trade agreements with non-members. And it is believed the European Parliament will be more powerful in the
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