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Competitive Liberalism and European Ambitions

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Economic Management and French Business

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Abstract

In the 1960s French firms had faced ‘le défi américain’.2 By the mid-1980s, reeling now from the Japanese challenge, they were calling more stridently for a European market that was whole and supportive, and for pan-European companies big enough to challenge the American and Japanese invaders. The Single European Act (SEA) came into effect on 1 July 1987. This established a deadline of 31 December 1992 for the completion of the Single European Market (SEM), defined as ‘an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured’.3

It is Europe that constitutes one of our best chances to ensure the progress of our economy and the radiance of France. […] Let us take the paths of competitiveness, of economic growth and job creation.

Jacques Delors

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Competitive Liberalism and European Ambitions

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

    Mairi Maclean (Professor of European Studies)

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  1. Mairi Maclean
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© 2002 Mairi Maclean

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Maclean, M. (2002). Competitive Liberalism and European Ambitions. In: Economic Management and French Business. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230503991_7

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