European Economic Community Adopts the Single European Act.

The final acceptance of the Single European Act (SEA) by all twelve members of the European Economic Community (EEC) in July, 1987, represented an important modification of the Treaty of Rome of 1957, which initially established the EEC. The EEC had abolished all internal tariffs and established a common external market by 1968, but it was not able to create a complete internal market that allowed the free movement of people, goods, and capital. Individual member states, represented on the Council of Ministers, and not the European Commission or the European Parliament, controlled major policy decisions. Beginning in the mid-1970’s, the EEC faced major economic problems and bitter disputes about policy issues. The expansion of the EEC to ten members by 1981 only added to the difficulties. An April, 1984, Newsweek article headlined “The Decline of Europe” dramatically documented the pervasive “Euro-pessimism” felt by many in the EEC until the appearance of the Single European Act.