ABSTRACT
The SEA, although not a particularly inspiring document, is nevertheless proving to be extraordinarily fruitful, both directly and indirectly. Its dimensions and implications are considerable. Quite apart from the element of achieving the SEM by 1992, we have noted the proposals for EMU and have examined its implications for regional policy, including economic and social cohesion, social policy, environmental protection and R&TD. Quite clearly, sooner or later, the SEA was likely to have a significant impact in the field of political union; that impact has several strands since it relates to the internal governing of the European Communities, to EPC (foreign policy) and potentially to defence matters. The SEA also has key implications for the rest of the world-but notably EFTA and eastern Europe. While all these ingredients are important, it seems to us that the really important ones are the SEM, EMU and political union. It is to these that we now turn.
