Single European Act
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Single European Act (SEA) was the first major revision of the Treaty of Rome.
There was a tremendous amount of discontent among European Community members in the 1980s. Leaders from the business and political worlds were eager to harmonize laws between countries and resolve policy discrepancies. A commission formed to analyze whether a common market was possible in Europe, and further, what steps would need to be taken to achieve that goal. The commission put forth the proposals that became the Single European Act.
The goal was to remove remaining barriers between countries, increase harmonization, thus increasing the competitiveness of European countries. It reformed/refined the operating procedures of the institutions (which by then had 12 members, rather than 6 as initially) and Qualified Majority Voting was extended to new areas. An aim of a single market by 1992 was set.
The act also formally introduced the concept of the European Political Cooperation which was the forerunner of the European Union's later Common Foreign and Security Policy.
The act was signed at Luxembourg on February 17, 1986, and at The Hague on February 28, 1986. It went into effect on July 1, 1987, under the Delors Commission.
| European Union - treaties, structure, history | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | 1958 | 1967 | 1993 | 1999 | 2003 | ? |
| EC - European Community... | E U R O P E A N U N I O N ( E U ) | |||||
| European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) | ||||||
| European Economic Community (EEC) |
European Community (EC) | |||||
| ...European Communities: ECSC, EEC (EC, 1993), Euratom | Justice & Home Affairs |
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| Police & Judicial Co-operation in Criminal matters (PJCC) |
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| Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) | ||||||
| Euratom (European Atomic Energy Community) | ||||||
| Treaty of Paris |
Treaties of Rome |
Merger Treaty |
Treaty of Maastricht |
Treaty of Amsterdam |
Treaty of Nice |
European Constitution |
| "THREE PILLARS" - European Communities (EC, Euratom), Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal matters (PJCC) | ||||||
[edit] External links
- Text of the Single European Act
- The History of the European Union - The Single European Act
- The Single European Act European NAvigator
| Preceded by Merger Treaty (1965) |
EU treaties | Succeeded by Maastricht Treaty (1992) |
