ABSTRACT
Starting in 1973, the drop in the demand for labour and demographic decline in West Germany led to a redefinition of West German preferences and an overall absence of change in the previously established regime. From 1973–1974 to around 1984, the migration regime within the Community remained stable. Community migrants did not figure much in public policies for workers, and negotiations on migration of populations came to a halt. In contrast, immigration states in Western Europe severely restricted inflows from outside the Community. Developments in Community cooperation were limited to trying to achieve closure to migrants from outside the Community. Only the expansion of the Community migration regime to the Mediterranean countries of Western Europe mitigated this closure. Greece, Spain, and Portugal successively joined the European Economic Community.
