The “1992 Project”: Stages, Structures, Results and Prospects

The “1992 project” has radically changed the European Community. It has given the “common market” new impetus and has lifted the Community out of the deep crisis in which it was bogged down in the first half of the 1980s. The consensus which has been re-established amongst all the Member States through the “internal market” exercise was enshrined in the Single European Act and the acceptance of the Delors package in February 1988. The financial underpinning of the “1992 project,” through the reform of the structural funds and the Community’s finance system, has given the “internal market” exercise such credibility in the eyes of the public that it has increasingly taken on a life of its own: since the first half of 1988, 1992 has become a strategic date for business and industry both inside and outside the Community.