In Luxembourg, on 17 February 1986, nine Member States of the European Communities sign the Single European Act: Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. Denmark, Greece and Italy sign later at The Hague on 28 February 1986. The depositary is the Government of Italy. The Act amends the Treaties of Rome and is the first major revision of the European Economic Community after the 1965 Merger Treaty; it enters into force on 1 July 1987.

The preamble and common provisions state the will to continue the work undertaken on the basis of the Treaties establishing the European Communities and to transform relations as a whole among their States into a European Union. Article 1 sets as the objective of the Communities and of European Political Co-operation to contribute together to making concrete progress towards European unity; Political Co-operation is governed by Title III.

A core element is the objective of an internal market without internal frontiers, with free movement of goods, persons, services and capital, to be established by 31 December 1992. To remove non-tariff barriers, the Act reforms the legislative process: it introduces the cooperation procedure with the European Parliament and extends Qualified Majority Voting in the Council to new areas, shortening the legislative process.

The Act also codifies European Political Co-operation as a forerunner of the later Common Foreign and Security Policy. The signatories undertake to promote the convergence of economic and monetary policies necessary for economic and monetary union, taking account of experience within the European Monetary System; detailed criteria are left to the 1992 Maastricht Treaty.

In Denmark the parliament rejects the Act in January 1986; a non-binding referendum on 27 February 1986 approves it by 56.2%. Italy delays signature out of concern that the European Parliament is given too little power; Greece signs with Denmark and Italy at The Hague. In Ireland, Crotty v. An Taoiseach requires a constitutional referendum (26 May 1987) before ratification.

The authentic text is published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, L 169, 29 June 1987. The Single European Act is not the Maastricht Treaty; it is the instrument of 17/28 February 1986 that prepares the single market and institutional reform.

Image: signing of the Single European Act, 1986; CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons / European Communities. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Single European Act. Treaty text: Single European Act, Luxembourg, 17 February 1986 / The Hague, 28 February 1986 (Wikisource).