A recent comment, and an apparently negative decision by the newly-elected Prime Minister of Jamaica, Mr Bruce Golding give pause for thought on the trajectory of the regional integration movement. This is particularly so given the elaborate publicity given by Heads of Government in recent times to the establishment of the Caribbean Single Market, and to the decision to finalise implementation of the Single Economy by 2015.

Mr Golding is quoted as saying, during the recently-held Caricom Heads of Government in Nassau, Bahamas, that to the extent that the establishment of the Single Economy necessitated the creation of a common economic space, and this in turn required some form of “political integration”, “once you get there, we have to get off because we are under a mandate that we are not going there…”. This followed an earlier statement by the Prime Minister, when asked about recent statements emanating from the Prime Ministers of Trinidad and Tobago and St Vincent and the Grenadines about possibilities for some form of political union involving their countries, that “there is no interest by us [Jamaica] in political union”……