The Maastricht Backlash

Abstract

The road to Maastricht began in earnest in 1985 when the Community adopted the ‘1992’ single-market programme to create a twelve-member frontier-free single market. But the creation of such an economic bloc of impressive size would not in and of itself, however, make the Community a more powerful and cohesive political force in the world. As the Community has always been built on economic initiatives rather than political initiatives, the single-market goal seemed, at first, satisfactory enough for many, especially in a world where many at that time believed economic might would eventually supplant military prowess. It took the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 to galvanise Community leaders into making the leap toward monetary and political integration. In that sense, the Maastricht Treaty marked a decisive turningpoint in the Community’s decades-old integration process.