ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author provides some observations on the political economy of European integration, illustrated largely by some elements of the process of creating the Single Market. He comments on what is supposed to be a key factor in Europe's political and economic future, that is, the Maastricht Treaty. The author discusses whether all this may, or may not, have implications for the future of the Common Agricultural Policy and for future agricultural trade relations between Europe and the United States. The Commission cranked up the stuttering engine of Europe by producing its famous White Paper on Completing the Internal Market. A General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade deal on agriculture would in fact speed up a development that begins to be conceivable in Europe, also because of the domestic implications of future political and economic developments in the Community-the gradual demise of a century of agricultural protectionism.
