The geography of the European Community /

The Coles offer an early '90s assessment of the European Community's inter- and intra-regional and locational attributes. A single market deadline, the Maastricht treaty, and changes in Eastern Europe have hastened the EC's development. Centrality will be an advantage, while countries in peripheral locations may be disadvantaged. At present, migration from south to north is largely driven by economic factors, with a smaller environmental/retirement reverse movement. Employment is 59.2% in the service sector, 7.6% in the agricultural sector, and less in forestry and fishing. Tourism is now the single most important element in the economy of EC countries. Industry accounts for 33.2% of employment, producing 36.5% of GDP. It is crucial to the EC's industrial survival that countries overcome internal differences, harmonize standards, and open markets to each other. The merging of some systems, especially in border areas, as well as environmental protection and resolution of disparities between and within countries are problems that will occupy planners for at least two decades. The EC must also begin to think of itself as a global entity. General readers; advanced undergraduate through professional. A. J. Larson; University of Illinois at Chicago