The Role of the European Parliament in the Single Market Programme: The Cost of Non-Europe and the Car Emission Directive (1983-89)

The Single Market has been at the heart of European integration for more than three decades, as the recent Brexit negotiations exemplifies. However, the role of the European Parliament in the origins and the first years of implementation of the Single Market programme has been neglected, whereas it was important in two respects. First, as early as 1983 the European Parliament contributed to intellectual mobilisation efforts in advance of the programme’s adoption by developing the notion of the “cost of non-Europe”, an economic concept which materialized the tangible benefits of the Single Market Programme, instead of framing this endeavour as simply another European policy among others. Michel Albert was instrumental in this debate. Second, the European Parliament was active after the Single Act was signed in 1986 by adopting and influencing legislation to concretely implement this ambitious programme, as the example of the 1989 car emission directive demonstrates. Here the role of Carlo Ripa di Meana was of particular importance.