The EEC & the EC INTRODUCTION The European Economic Commu

The agreement in the late1980s for further integration in the EEC raised concerns over the future of NATO. The advent of perestroika in the Soviet Union further fueled the fires of concern, and the wholesale political changes which occurred in the Eastern European countries of the Warsaw Pact in late1989 raised the concerns over the future of NATO to the boiling point.

The EEC was formed under the protective umbrella of NATO in the 1950s.1 It is somewhat ironic, thus, that the success

1L. S. Kaplan, NATO and the United States: The Enduring Alliance (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988), 73.

of the EEC leads to questions concerning the future of NATO. The world, however, is changing, and the imperatives which led to the formation of NATO are viewed differently in the early1990s than they were in the late1940s, when NATO was forme

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to the Single Act, it was necessary to insert a clause into the Act which enabled member countries to opt out of an action, if they felt it was detrimental to their national interest. Opting out, however, is a difficult process and a risky step for both the EC as an entity and for individual countries. Thus, it is unlikely that the procedure will be used often. It is more likely that, in instances where member states are seriously divided on a political response, no action will be taken in the name of the EC. The Single Act also changes voting to (1) a proportional system based both on population, and financial contribution to the EC, from an equal vote for all members, and (2) a 56 percent majority vote, from a unanimous vote. Thus, the EC, which has in the past been very tight in its agreement for a member to opt out, may be able to even more effectively restrict such actions subsequent to 1992the effective date for the Single Act. In February 1989, the EC demonstrated its capability to take decisive, unified action in international relations, when __________ 19Paxton, p. 46. 8it acted against Iran in the Salman Rushdie affair. This action was taken, however, on a vote by the Council of Ministers,
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Some common words found in the essay are:
United Nations, Single Act, Soviet Union, EC American, Latin America, Market Studies, Jeane Kirkpatrick, University Press, European Council, Arbor House, united nations, common market, journal common, journal common market, soviet union, single act, common market studies, external relations, market studies, north atlantic treaty, treaty organization, atlantic treaty, european political, atlantic treaty organization, external relations ec,
Approximate Word count = 3599
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)