Single European Act - Definition and Overview

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 (by now strained with 12 rather than 6 members) 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.

External links

• Text of the Single European Act (http://europa.eu.int/abc/obj/treaties/en/entoc113.htm)
• The History of the European Union - The Single European Act (http://www.historiasiglo20.org/europe/acta.htm)