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Business in Europe

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  • Euobserver
The first edition of EUobserver's Business in Europe magazine looks at business and industry in Europe.

The commission

The commission points out that member states such as Poland, the Netherlands or Germany would face more than €500 million of additional costs for the road transport of traded goods, while others such as Spain or the Czech Republic would see their businesses paying more than €200 million in additional costs. This would ultimately damage competition within the EU, putting jobs, investment and tourism in jeopardy, interrupt supply chains, while administration costs for countries would go up. It would also harm tourism. At least 13 million nights tourists spend in Europe could be lost with permanent checks, according to the com- billion. However, the think tank argues that it is still less than the cost of managing the migration crisis. In Germany, housing, food and healthcare for the 1.1 million asylum seekers would cost the state €21 billion, IFO estimates. In a separate study, the French government estimated that the EU could face up to €100 billion in long-term costs, 0.8 percent of the Schengen decade, if the border checks remain in place. THE OPEN BORDERS NO LONGER A GIVEN Permanent border controls would decrease trade between Schengen countries by 10 to 20 percent, the study says, the equivalent of a 3 percent tax on trade. AT LEAST €5 PER CITIZEN The Commission also said there are 1.7 million workers in the EU crossing a border every day to go to their jobs, and border controls would cost them between €1.3 and €5.2 billion in total yearly costs. Another study by the German Bertelsmann Foundation said the overall GDP losses in the EU could be €470 billion (calculated for 24 out that the price of imported goods would rise 1 percent. A study by the German IFO think-tank estimated in a report in April that systematic controls at Schengen borders would lower the economic output of the 27 EU countries by 0.19 percent to 0.47 percent on a yearly basis. (Croatia was not involved in the calculations due to lack of data.) That would equal €27 billion to €66 billion, or €53 to €130 for every European citizen. It is difficult yet to determine the costs associated with the temporary border controls since their reintroduction, as not enough time has passed to gather data. If the checks remain and prices go up by 3 could rise as high as €1.4 trillion, according to the Bertelsmann Foundation. While EU leaders talk about saving Schengen and passport-free travel, developments on the ground show that member states are bracing themselves for checks to remain in place. The open borders Europeans took for granted are no longer a given. Controls at the Danish-Swedish border were introduced on 4 seekers from ending 60 years of passport-free travel states. Photo: EUobserver MANAGING MIGRATION COMES WITH A PRICE But the Munich-based IFO think tank also calculated that since the border closures started, for the EU27 the economic impact on the GDP is between €9 billion and €15.4 billion. “The calculations also took into account that not all the borders are controlled, and some of the checks are asymmetric, meaning there are controls going in, but not on the way out of a country,” the IFO's Jasmin Groeschl told EUobserver. 28 — BUSINESS IN EUROPE JUNE 2016

Hello! Stay informed. Stay current. Subscribe to EUobserver. Special discount. SAVE 30% 10€ 105€ for 1 year! Discount code: MEDIAPARTNER30 EU counter-terrorism co-ordinator Gilles de Kerchove. BUSINESS IN EUROPE JUNE 2016 — 29

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