SEA treaty
The SEA preamble’s main goal is to make the EU a more effective organisation to tackle the rise of Euro-sclerosis and Euro-scepticism.
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The SEA preamble’s main goal is to make the EU a more effective organisation to tackle the rise of Euro-sclerosis and Euro-scepticism.
The late 1970s and early 1980s were characterised by political and economic crisis in Europe. Such crises are known respectively as Euro-scepticism and Euro-sclerosis. The former reflected waning trust in European institutions on the part of European citizens, due to several reasons, including conflicting economic policies and disputes over the Common Agricultural Polity (CAP) reform[15]. The latter, on the other hand, sprang from a period of high unemployment and economic stagnation which characterised the whole of Europe[15].
Euro-sclerosis in a chart [7]
Signing of the SEA [8]
In order to tackle Euro-sclerosis and Euro-scepticism, a new impulse towards European integration came in 1986. On 17thFebruary 1986, a new treaty called Single European Act (SEA) was signed by Belgium, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and United Kingdom. Greece, Denmark and Italy delayed the ratification process and signed the act on the 28th of February.
The treaty was meant to accomplish two tasks. First, it aimed to strengthen political cooperation, securing peace both internally and externally, through the establishment of common security and foreign policies[16]. Second, it was resolved to also strengthen economic cooperation, by moving from common to unique market[16]. Market liberalisation, to be sure, mirrored wider desires to create "an area without internal frontiers in which free movement of goods, persons, services, and capital [was] ensured"[15].
According to the preamble, the SEA's main goal is to make the EU a more efficient organisation, through economic and political cooperation, following a period of severe Euro-scepticism (political crisis) and Euro-sclerosis (economic crisis). More specifically, the preamble states that Europe aims to act "with consistency and solidarity in order more effectively to protect its common interests and interdependence"[17].
The preamble, moreover, traces a line of continuity with the work undertaken by the previous European treaties, to the aim of "transform[ing] relations as a whole among [...] states into a European Union"[17], both politically and economically.
In political terms, the preamble tries to respond to Euro-scepticism by highlighting how strongly the EU is dependent on its citizens and how it could become more effective internally (security dimension) and globally (foreign dimension). The preamble suggests that the aim is "to promote democracy on the basis of the fundamental rights [...] [of] freedom, equality and social justice"[17]. Therefore, it goes on, the European project and its new developments should correspond to the "wishes of the democratic peoples of Europe"[17]. This is to be ensured by respecting the constitutions and laws of member states, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the European Social Charter.
In economic terms, on the other hand, the treaty aims to improve socio-economic conditions in Europe by "extending new common policies and pursuing new objectives"[17]. This refers, specifically, to the gradual realisation of the "economic and monetary union", set for 1992[18].
The SEA preamble [9]