European Union and Preferential Arrangements

The driving force behind Preferential Arrangements (PAs) between countries is rarely economics alone. It was the profound wish to move away from the cycle of armed conflict between the European nations that prompted the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community which was the forerunner of the European Union (EU). It has also been argued that the move towards the next phase of the enlargement of the EU which is expected to see the entry of a number of Central and Eastern European countries into the Union, forms part of an effort to forestall a return to the Cold War division of Europe (Dehaene, 2000). Nevertheless economic considerations do play a very important role in Preferential Arrangements.