Single European Act

Single European Act (SEA), agreement enacted by the European Economic Community (EEC; precursor to the European Community and, later, the European Union) that committed its member countries to a timetable for their economic merger and the establishment of a single European currency and common foreign and domestic policies. It was signed in February 1986 in Luxembourg and The Hague and entered into force on July 1, 1987. Several significant provisions of the SEA brought important modifications to the foundational treaties of the 1950s that had established the European Communities—the EEC, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom).

The movement toward European integration began after World War II. It did so in rather halting steps, the first of which was the creation of the ECSC in 1952. With six members—Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, West Germany, France, and Italy—the ECSC was the first modern, wide-scale economic coalition in Europe. Six years later, when it was clear that economic cooperation in Europe was feasible, the member states of the ECSC deepened their arrangement through the signing of the Treaties of Rome, which set up the EEC and Euratom. The EEC’s goal was economic harmonization of the region through a common market and the removal of barriers to free trade. In the 1970s and ’80s the EEC expanded, adding the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Spain, Greece, and Portugal. That era’s political and economic challenges included an oil crisis that reached its peak in 1973 and new pressures to compete on a global scale as the United States began more-liberalized international trade. The European governments responded with a vision of a unified front that would streamline their major economic and political differences. The SEA represented a large step toward that goal.

Although the European Parliament had been established by the EEC, it was limited to a mostly advisory role, and its officials were not directly elected. The SEA expanded the European Parliament’s powers to include a veto over the admittance of new member states and over agreements made with associated states. It also established the direct election of the parliament’s members. Further, the SEA gave more authority to the European Council, a body made up of the leaders of all member countries. The council may be understood as a unified executive branch of government; the president of the council is also known as the “president of the EU.” Thus, not only did the SEA make significant institutional changes, it also made strides toward political integration of Europe. But the most important and sweeping aspect of the SEA’s contributions was the timetable it detailed for the creation of a single European market in 1993.

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European Union: Single European Act

With its economic provisions, the SEA began the world’s largest trading area. It did so by permitting the free movement of goods, capital, labour, and services among and between member states. Before the implementation of the SEA’s provisions, there had been some success toward the creation of a single market, but there were still many barriers (such as the differential rates of a value-added tax), and border crossings still involved much red tape, which complicated the shipment of goods. The SEA was the first attempt to have a Europe without frontiers by going further to ensure union than had any agreement before it. In addition to introducing unitary-market mechanisms—it had 272 such provisions—it established standards for workers’ health and safety, set up European research and technology development strategies, and created policies designed to protect the environment. Hence, the SEA was a major step in the direction of establishing what is now the European Union, as it made a cohesive and harmonious economy the goal for Europe.