Yes, untitlted, I understand that trade deals are political (if for no other reason, they are usually negotiated by politicians and their lackies). But have a look at my response at 18:24 yesterday and see if you can identify any other “trade deals” that insist on such conditions.
The EU is not a trading bloc. It started out that way, but has since evolved into a political entity unlike any other trading organisation. Its aim is to construct a federal Europe and without the UK it will achieve that aim far more quickly. Have a look at some of the features I listed in my earlier post and try to find a trading organisation anywhere else in the world that comes even close to that. I haven’t actually mentioned the single currency (principally because the UK did not participate) but how many other trading organisations have developed their own currency with political control of the users’ interest rates, public expenditure and exchange rates? As davebro says, your suggestion that the EU is at the “extreme end” of intervention is certainly an understatement. Its intervention is so severe that no country in its right mind would acquiesce to such conditions if they were asked to sign up to them in one hit. The EU has evolved to its currents state “salami style”, each step “only a little different to the status quo, so nothing to worry about”. To understand what I mean, compare the Treaty of Rome (1957) to the Treaty of Lisbon (2009). In fact, there’s no need to go that far, just compare Rome to Maastricht (1992). The people and governments of Europe have fallen for it lock, stock and barrel.