The Purpose
According to the EU’s experience, it is understood that the reasoning behind the institutional creation of the EU was to levitate and revitalise the socially and economically ravaged state of Europe after the Second World War and to ensure the promotion and preservation of peace. In this respect, it also rings true for the spirit of the AEC as affirmed in the ASEAN Charter (The Charter) where it is to “enhance regional resilience by promoting greater political, security, economic and socio-cultural cooperation… to create a single market and production base which is stable, prosperous, highly competitive and economically integrated… [and] to alleviate poverty and narrow the development gap within ASEAN through mutual assistance and cooperation” (Article 1 of the Charter). As a result, with the success story of the EU’s economic integration experience from its inception of the Economic Community, to the Customs Union, and to the European Internal Market, it nevertheless became a model for ASEAN’s own economic community. With this understanding, it is necessary to look to the EC as a model on what benefits and effects the AEC may have for the ASEAN Member States (AMS) in order to understand how to the AEC may work.