ABSTRACT
By the mid-1980s, the European Union (EU) remained rather more than a customs union, but rather less than a common market (see also Chapter 7). The former status, entailing the elimination of tariffs and quotas between members and a common trade policy visà-vis the rest of the world, had been accomplished quite rapidly in the decade following the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957. Thereafter, the pace of progress had slowed considerably and the unified market, embodying a standardised legal framework for the conduct of economic affairs and a harmonised taxation and monetary system, seemed simply a panEuropean’s dream. Successive obstacles to its creation had regularly emerged, including Union enlargement, political disagreement over the long-term goals of the alliance and the severe economic difficulties experienced by all member states during the 1970s.
