Author Description

The European Community (EC) has embarked on an ambitious program to integrate its internal market and thus create the largest trading bloc in the world with 325 million consumers and a GDP rivalling that of the United States. This document provides a brief history of the origins of the EC and evidence of its failure to create a true single market. It also summarizes the 1992 program, which includes not only the creation of a single market but steps leading to eventual economic and political union. Finally, it examines the effects of European integration on the outside world, highlighting some of Canada's concerns.