Single European Act – EC Library Guide: Research

Research on the ratification of the Single European Act (SEA)

(in chronological order)

The making of the Single European Act reconsidered: IPE, UCD and the challenge of supranationalism

Koch, J.,. Global Political Economy, 2(1), 2023, pages 98-120.

By historicising the run-up to ratification of the 1986 Single European Act (SEA), the author shows that the SEA emerged as an interactive compromise, based on diverging state interests and, yet strongly managed by the overarching agency of the Commission of the EEC. While the multiplicity of advanced capitalisms, or the ‘unevenness and combination’ of diverging national European interests, cannot explain this outcome, the author demonstrates that the SEA’s ratification process was decisively driven by dynamics emerging from within the European sphere, created by tensions between Commissioner Jacques Delors and President François Mitterrand.
Ratifica dell'Atto Unico Europeo da parte dell'Irlanda: Il caso Crotty

Castriota-Scanderbeg, Giulio, Diritto Comunitario e Degli Scambi Internazionali, 28 (1-2), 1989, pages 69-87.
The Single European Act Referendum

Gallagher, M., Irish political studies, 3, 1988, pages 77-82.

An analysis of the background to the 1987 referendum in the Republic of Ireland to approve a proposal to allow the state to ratify the Single European Act. The report also examines the patterns of support revealed by the outcome of the vote.
The Irish Court case which delayed the Single European Act: Crotty v. An Taoiseach and others

Temple Lang, John, Legal Service, European Commission, Common Market Law Review, 24 (4), 1987, pages 709-718.

The coming into force of the Single European Act was delayed because the Irish Supreme Court ruled that the Act was incompatible with the Constitution of Ireland. The author examines Ireland's Constitution and discusses the High Court and Supreme Court judgements.
The Single European Act: Some remarks from a Danish perspective

Gulmann, Claus, Common market law review, 24 (1), 1987, pages 31-40.

The author describes the Danish position before and during the Governmental Conference, discusses the Danish referendum and ratification, and analyses the new rules relating to the internal market, in particular the meaning and scope of Article 100A(4).
L'acte unique européen et la Cour suprême irlandaise (Affaire Crotty)

O'Connor, John, Annuaire français de droit international , 33, 1987, pages 762-773.

Cet article analyse les différentes phases du procès Crotty touchant le droit constitutionnel irlandais, le droit international et le droit communautaire. L'arrêt rendu par la Cour suprême dans cette affaire a eu pour résultat d'empêcher le gouvernement irlandais de ratifier l'AUE ; cet effet fut cependant promptement annulé par l'amendement de la Constitution.