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Introduction
Economic development of EU member states and the common foreign policy project are
very complex and complicated problems. On the other hand, these problems are quite often
discussed in media and are very tempting to be interpreted subjectively, sometimes without any
technical knowledge of two respective domains.
The principal objective of this paper is to analyse more closely a typical reasoning of how
common foreign policy promotes economic growth. If the future common foreign policy could
positively influence factors of economic growth, it would also have, to some extent, a positive
impact on European Union member states’ economic growth. Such relationship would be a very
important argument in favour of common foreign policy project (Figure 1). We will also try to
explain some general causality and point out the most common errors in the “economic-foreign
policy” thinking.
Figure 1: Typical reasoning of how common foreign policy promotes economic growth
Reason for such study is simple. Every rational economic player expects some “value” from
investments he has done. A typical household can invest, e.g. in goods of consumption or in
housing, but also in education and culture or in financial instruments, such as saving accounts or
pension funds. Still, every investment carries an expectation of a “value”. Not all of the investments,
not even a majority of them, have a direct economic benefit (such as interest paid by the bank on a
saving account) so the definition of a “value” is of course well beyond the economic understanding
benefits. Some experts believe that the project of common foreign policy brings a very important
CFP
Higher influence on
international markets
Promoting financial
stability
Spurring international
trade and financial flows
Economic growth of
EU member states