Introduction

Abstract

One central objective of the founding Treaty of what was to become the European Union, the Treaty of Rome, signed as long ago as 1957, was the creation of an integrated European labour market. Greater harmonization between countries was to be achieved by gradually removing barriers to the free movement of capital, goods, services and labour. In the decades following the foundation of the Community, European Union (EU) policies focused on the removal of barriers to achieve the goal of a true common market. The free movement of workers is one of the basic provisions of the Treaty of Rome, and is an integral part of the European integration project. In the early years of the Community, the emphasis of EU policies was on adopting regulations and directives to eradicate national laws which discriminated against workers from different EU countries. However, the movement towards a more integrated European labour market slowed significantly with the recessions of 1974–75 and 1979–81. The collapse of Fordism, the subsequent restructuring and internationalization of economies, characterized by an expansion of new technological methods and producer services and increased international competition, put the European Community at a competitive disadvantage compared to Japan and the United States. This required, among other things, the creation of a Single European Market (SEM).