ABSTRACT
During the second half of the 1980s, European countries continued the process of integration by preparing to take four steps, all of which would have marked effects, not just on their own behaviour, but on that of the world as a whole throughout the 1990s and beyond. The first step was the decision to create the Single European Market (SEM) in 1985 among the members of the European Union. The second step was the decision to extend the membership of the European Union to the members of European Free Trade Association (EFTA) through the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement that was signed in 1992.1 In addition, before the completion of either of these two processes, the EU has agreed to conclude a new treaty on European Union, which would create an economic, political and monetary union, the terms of which were set out in the Maastricht Treaty. The last element of current European integration, which was very dramatic, was the response to the collapse of the communist regimes in Eastern and Central Europe. These countries' moved towards a market-oriented system with closer integration with the West and the creation of new states out of the former Soviet Union and former Yugoslavia (Mayes 1993: 13).
