Mapping the Cost of Non-Europe, 2014 -19: Third edition (April 2015)

Written by Joseph Dunne

On 13 April 2015, the European Parliamentary Research Service published the third edition of its study ‘Mapping the Cost of Non-Europe, 2014-19‘, previously published in March and July 2014.

The analysis in the study builds, in large part, on a series of more detailed pieces of work undertaken for individual European Parliamentary Committees by the European Added Value Unit over the last two and a half years, in the form of European Added Value Assessments (on legislative initiatives proposed by the Parliament) and Cost of Non-Europe Reports in specific policy sectors.

The potential gains mentioned in the study represent the total increase in annual EU GDP after a full phasing-in of proposed reforms over several years. In other words, they represent a permanent shift in EU GDP to a higher level. The study concludes that if the policies analysed and actions recommended were to be pursued effectively, the economic benefit could build up annually to almost €1.6 trillion – or about 12% of EU-28 GDP (2014). It should be noted that when an underlying study offers a range of potential gains, the low-range value is usually selected. The study thus errs on the side of caution in estimating potential gains – there is substantial upside potential to the estimate over the medium to long term, from dynamic effects that cannot easily be quantified.

Since the second edition, a series of new studies provide more insight and precision regarding potential gains, namely:

• Single markets – Cecchini revisited (chapter 2)
• Single European Transport and Tourism areas (chapter 4)
• Banking union and banking regulation to avert a new financial crisis (chapter 7)
• Improved coordination of fiscal policies (chapter 8)
• Common deposit guarantee scheme (chapter 9)

Read the study ‘Mapping the Cost of Non-Europe, 2014-19‘.

A more in-depth view of the arguments can be perused in one of the supporting studies:

• The Cost of Non-Europe in the Single Market (Cecchini revisited)
• Single Market in Transport and Tourism: Cost of Non-Europe Report
• The Cost of Non-Europe of an incomplete Economic and Monetary Union

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Cost of non-Europe map (April 2015)

Cost of non-Europe – Potential GDP gains from closing gaps in the EU single market

Cost of non-Europe – Improved coordination of fiscal policies

Cost of non-Europe – Common deposit guarantee scheme

Cost of non-Europe – Building Blocks – Potential savings and efficiency gains in transport and tourism by sector

Cost of non-Europe – Banking Union and banking regulation to avert a new financial crisis