ABSTRACT
The rnornentuJn of econooUc integration With the institutionalization of the four so-called basic economic rights in 1993 - that is, the free movement of goods, persons, services, and capital within the EC member states - the competencies granted to the European Community have been greatly enhanced. The effects of this major step towards economic integration are not limited, however, to the economic realm. This is true in several ways. First, the implementation of free movement for the four basic economic assets involves the regulation of a wide array of social, political and cultural matters: for example, the exchange of students, the mutual recognition of educational credentials, and workers' participation in the decision-making process on the company level, to name just a few (Lepsius 1991; Munch 1993). Second, the intensified economic activities propelled by the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital bring about new problems or aggravate existing ones that, in tum, demand regulation. In this respect, environmental issues are the most prominent and controversial examples. The common market has greatly increased traffic, thus putting tremendous pressures on the environment and calling for supranational, Europe-wide regulation. Last but not least, the growing density of regulations resulting from economic integration engenders its own effects, namely, the emergence of novel problems that again call for regulation. In order to illustrate the extent to which and the pace at which demand for regulation has increased over the
last few years, I would like to cite some figures presented by Richard Munch (1993) in his book, Das Projekt Europa (The Project Europe): the number of regulations (i.e. decrees, guidelines, decisions) passed by the Council of Ministers in 1971 amounted to only 102; it increased to 510 in 1985 and reached 1,234 in 1991.
