Ekonomski odnosi između evropskih država
Economic Relations Among European States

Summary/Abstract: Considerable efforts have been made in recent years by many European states to achieve an improvement of political, economic and other relations, among themselves and in Europe as a whole. These efforts encounter numerous difficulties, since the long years of confrontation have left a deep mark, and this is particularly felt in the field of economy and economic life in general. The political confrontation of blocs has produced also economic division and the fragmentation of the European space into more or less enclosed economic communities mustering the majority of European states. The socialist states of Eastern Europe have gathered together within the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, on the one hand, while, on the other hand, the European Economic Community and the European Free Trade Association have been set up by the capitalist countries of Europe in an attempt to find solutions to their problems. Hardly any European state has remained outside these groupings. One of them, in keeping with its policy of non-alignment and coexistence, is Yugoslavia. As a result, economic co-operation among European countries during the past years proceeded on the whole within the boundaries of relatively closed systems. As for co-operation between systems, at least with regard to relations between capitalist and the socialist states, of Commecon, economic relations have been reduced to the smallest possible measure. With respect to the totality of these relations and the mode of their occurrence, economic co-operation in Europe may be viewed as consisting of three relatively separate periods. The first period covers the years after the war and until the establishment of the economic communities of capitalist Europe. This partly coincides with the period of intensified co-operation among socialist states, united in the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. The second stage involves the consolidation of these communities, and the third is characterized by the attempts to expand the co-operation between the communities and thus to render more concrete the processes of political rapprochement. The policy of d'etente in the sphere of economic relations has brought about the first talks about regional co-operation, as well as discussions about the possibility of liberalisation of trade and other economic relations in Europe as a whole, which form part of the preparation for the European conference and security and co-operation. These efforts should be intensified, as the present economic relations are obviously far from what they could be. There is no doubt that favourable economic relations represent the basis for political stability, peace and security in Europe.

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