Global Atlanta

Former Mexican President: North America Can Learn From Europe

ENTIRE ARTICLE and VIDEO HERE
David Beasley
05.13.09

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox sees the European Union as an “inspiration” for much closer economic ties between the United States, Canada and Mexico.

“What they have is a super-national organization without losing sovereignty, culture or anything,” Mr. Fox told GlobalAtlanta in a May 12 interview at Kennesaw State University. “It’s not just a trade agreement. It’s a partnership.”

The EU system, which has a common currency and trade standards, no passport requirements for travel from one member nation to the other and other standardized regulations, has helped narrow the wealth gap, Mr. Fox said.

“Today Ireland has about the same per capita income as France and Germany or Britain,” he said. “Today, Spain is very close to the per capita income of the leading nations. Now, the newcomers, Poland, the Czech Republic, Turkey are joining the union and now they begin the process of reducing the gap, increasing their income.”

Mr. Fox, a former Coca-Cola Co. executive who was president of Mexico from 2000-2006, stressed that gains by the poorer countries in Europe have not come at the expense of the wealthier nations. “The most significant thing is that nobody has lost income,” he said.

Mr. Fox drew a contrast to North America, where Mexico’s per capita annual income of $10,000 is less than a fourth of that in the United States and Canada. A more prosperous Mexico would go a long way toward solving problems such as illegal immigration, he said. “What would better for the United States than having a healthy, wealthy neighbor?” he asked.

Canada and the U.S. already are on par economically, he added. “When you have that, you don’t have problems on the border,” said Mr. Fox. “You can open the border to go back and forth freely.”

At Kennesaw State, Mr. Fox was the keynote speaker at a meeting of the Commission for North American Prosperity, a forum on the future of relations between the U.S., Canada and Mexico. On May 11, Mr. Fox gave the commencement address at Emory University.

In the interview with GlobalAtlanta, Mr. Fox praised the North American Free Trade Agreement, which went into effect in 1994, but said that even broader economic integration is needed. “Nafta is just the beginning,” he said. “We can see a Nafta plus ahead which is further integrating, which will bring many additional benefits to our three nations.”

While Nafta focused primarily on trade, the push now should be on creating “a real partnership,” Mr. Fox said. He envisions Canada, Mexico and the U.S. having standardized duties for imports and exports, financial systems that work in harmony, standardized rules and regulations perhaps as simple as recognizing academic degrees from one country to the other.

But he fell short of calling for a complete duplication of the European Union. “I would only say that it is an inspiration,” said Mr. Fox. “ It is a very bright idea but has to be adapted to our circumstances here in North America. I think there are many good ideas that we can take from that 50-year-old exercise.”

Strengthened cooperation would make it easer to fight the drug problem, said Mr. Fox. Yet he emphasized that it is not Mexico’s problem alone.

“The one that permits the drugs to be distributed and lets it circulate in its territory is the United States,” said Mr. Fox. ” When the drugs cross the border, who moves it? Who takes it to the Chicago market, who takes it to the Atlanta market? Who collects the money from selling the drugs, who launders that money? Who brings that money back to bribe Mexican officials?”

A closer relationship with the United States will help create more developed societies, with higher levels of education and less poverty, making it easier to cooperatively fight the drug trade, Mr. Fox said.

“It’s a joint responsibility,” he said. “We all have to work together.”