% of the EU's GDP, followed by France (18%), Italy (13%), and the United Kingdom (13 percent). Per capita income for the EU as a whole is about $21,748, ranging from over 180 percent of the average in Luxembourg to less than 70 percent in Spain, Greece and Portugal (Hoover, 1995).
Stagnation, Growth and the Economic Union
As stated in the introduction, in the first half of the 1980s, prior to the single-market program, the economies of the soon to be Economic Union countries experienced a surge in investment. Stagnation had reduced European competitiveness in the 1970s and the increasing inability of the European Community to function effectively and resolve problems led member governments to conclude that increased cooperation would be necessary to increase economic efficiency and competitiveness (Calingaert, 1988).
The European Community Commission published a white paper on "Completing the Internal Market" in June of 1985. This paper was a detailed plan for the removal of most obstacles to the free movements of goods, people, services and capital by 1992. It presented a specific time-table for implementing some 300 separate measure or directive that were to abolish all physical, technical and fiscal barriers to trade by December 31, 1992. It was hoped that such a program would lead to an increase in growth and private investment in Europe (Baldwin, 1989).
Initially Europe did experiences an expansion in private investment but the economy of the European Union began to slow considerably in 1991 and 1992, growing only 1.4% and 1.1% during th
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