Introduction

The signing of the Single European Act did not make the internal market a fait accompli, a view shared by European Roundtable members, whose actions became more pronounced. A watchdog group, the Internal Market Support Committee, was formed in December 1986; its members met regularly with unions, heads of state and government, top government officials and key commissions of the European Community and emphasized the urgency of fulfilling the goals set by the Single European Act. Nowadays, the European Roundtable of Industrialists (ERT) is still considered one of the most influential interest organizations in Brussels. The evidence for this consists not only of the self-description by the president of the Nestlé administrative council and interviews with representatives of European umbrella organizations but also in the very origins of the Single European Act (see chapter 3).

In this chapter, we want to sketch the organization and development as well as the financial and management interconnections of the Round-table. First, the history and the activities of the Roundtable up to the passage of the Single European Act are outlined.