Madam, – Torlach Denihan, the director of Retail Ireland (January 20th) explains, as part of his justification for differences in retail prices between North and South, that “the North is part of the UK economy and that retailers there get the economies of scale of operating in a market of over 60 million consumers”.
In his own way, Mr Denihan is pointing out that more than 50 years after the entry into force of the Treaty of Rome, and over 15 years after what was supposed to have been completion of the “single market”, the EU is not in fact a single market, or anything approaching it. There are 27 markets in the EU because there are 27 member states.
As a result, no European consumer obtains the full benefits of the potential economies of scale which would exist if there were to be a real single market in the EU covering not 60 million but 400 million consumers.
If it enters into force, the Treaty of Lisbon will not itself transform the EU into a real single market but it will facilitate the decisions which the member states will have to agree to if substantial progress is to be made in transforming a still splintered Europe into an effective continental market for the benefit of all its people.
The road to lower prices in Dundalk, but also in Newry, passes through Lisbon. – Yours, etc,
JAMES LEAVY,
rue de la Baume,
Paris.