EEC - On the Brink?
' Stagnation, decline and escapism ' is how MAX VAN DER STOEL , Foreign Minister of the Netherlands, described the current mood in the Common Market. This month it comes of age. For 21 years the European Economic Community has been committed by the Treaty of Rome to strive for free and open competition. There is, however, little evidence that this has been achieved. Prices throughout the EEC still vary enormously. Companies are still unwilling to work in harmony and perhaps even the desire to achieve economic integration and free competition has gone.
Tonight James Bellini examines whether the Common Market is an economic ideal that cannot, or is not, being achieved.
Producer DAVID MILLS Editor PAUL ELLIS