COMPLETING THE INTERNAL MARKET IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

It is somewhat ironic that in the 1970s and 1980s the European Union (EU) was often referred to as the ‘common market’. For in this period, the EU had not created the conditions which are necessary for a common market to exist (see Chapter 1). The Treaty of Rome called for the creation of a customs union and a common market. These objectives are clearly outlined in Article 3 of the Treaty of Rome. Indeed, many of the articles of the Treaty are concerned with establishing the so-called ‘four freedoms’—that is, freedom of movement of goods, services, capital and labour. Yet in spite of this commitment, the EU had not created a common market by the 1980s.