ABSTRACT
This chapter is devoted to the dynamics of the integration process. It describes the essentials of the different approaches that try to respond to the questions of why and how further integration develops. The economic logic is based on the clear economic advantages that can be obtained from the integration of markets. Indeed, the free exchange of goods promises a positive effect on the prosperity of all concerned. Policy integration may bring economic benefits as it leads to the recovery of effectiveness in policy making. The higher the form of integration, the greater the restrictions on and loss of national competences and the more power will be transferred from national to Union institutions. Costs of integration will come first from the adaptation to new circumstances – for instance, from the reinsertion of the labour made redundant by international competition. To facilitate integration, union institutions are created because they are more effective and more efficient than national ones.
