Trader's guide to the EU galaxy: the European Union's constitution may be in limbo, but the 42 directives designed to unify the Continent's trading infrastructure remain. Here are the issues that could affect you as Europe hammers its common market into shape.(TRADE TRENDS)

Futures (Cedar Falls, Iowa), July, 2005 by Zwick, Steve

Here's something to ponder in the wake of last month's rejection of the European Union constitution by the French and Dutch: the United Kingdom does not have a constitution.

That's right--the United Kingdom, the most dynamic E.U. economy, has no formal constitution.

That not only explains certain aspects of British humor, but it's good news for the European Union--whose recently-rejected 300-page constitution had been designed to replace the ganglia of treaties and European Commission actions that largely remain in effect. Skeptics rightly point out many are non-binding directives issued by a toothless European Commission and enforced by unwilling state governments. However, most of those relevant to the financial services industry are built on a...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.