European market integration has been one of the great economic success stories of the past 30 years. But the movement seems to have lost steam.
In fact, as the much-hailed "Europe '92" arrived, most European economies found themselves in severe recession. There is no evidence that the promises of the highly publicized Cecchini Report of 1987 will be fulfilled. And there is no sign of either the expected additional 4 to 7 percent growth in the European gross domestic product or the creation of 1.8 million new jobs. In fact, GDP growth is next to nothing, and trade is stagnating.