The ONLY good thing about the EU in my opinion has been its commitment to a single market and attacks on state aid. The harmonization policy is a significant downside to that, of course, in that it works against jurisdictional competition, but the EU has helped get rid of a lot of horrible subsidy and protectionism in Europe.Looks like those days are over:

A reference to “free and undistorted competition” was pulled from the draft after French pressure late on Thursday. The new text talks of a “social market economy aiming at full employment”. The French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, used a late night press conference to confirm that the EU’s 50 year old commitment to an “open market economy with free competition” had been dropped from the draft treaty. “There was some play on that, but today’s Presidency document satisfies our demands,” he told reporters.

So much for the free-marketeer Sarkozy.

The EU now officially has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

Hat tip: Stephen Pollard.