Is the EU Really a Free Market?

This article details why the European Union is not a truly free market for companies that do business there because it seems that no single country trusts any of the others to not step in and mandate how certain "Key Industries" continue to do business there. So each country continues not to live up to the expected dismanteling of their government's involvement in private corporations in their respective countries.

I found this article interesting because it reminded me of a principle taught to us in Mean Joe Green's Microeconomics class about OPEC and why they truly don't have a monopoly on the oil market that works to fix prices. It seems that no single OPEC nation trusts the others to not cheat and sell more oil, so each country does cheat on the set production numbers, and their production plans continue to fail. Hey, it is good for those living in our country since we won't drill any of our own oil.

I do have to agree somewhat with those countries that do influence the "Key Industries" because there should be strategic moves made by the government to protect the citizens of that country if something in the market is threatening them. For example, having a steady supply of oil and / or coal should be a strategic interest for us in the United States because it is a very vunerable part of our society right now. I just wish we could get politicians and environmentalists to think that way as well.