The decade was one of continuity in Australia’s relations with Western Europe, rather than major change such as had been occasioned by Britain’s joining the European Community (EC) in 1972. It was, however, a time of important developments in the EC itself: in 1985, after a period of disarray, its member governments entered into a major commitment to the completion of the common market, the removal of all remaining internal barriers, by 1992. The prospect of the single European market and its implications for Europe’s trading partners have become a focus for discussions of the international economy and – especially after the dramatic changes in Eastern Europe in 1989 – of the future pattern of international relationships as a whole. A discussion of the continuities of the 1980s cannot ignore the shadow of the future – the prospect of major changes in Europe in the 1990s, presenting opportunities as well as challenges to established expectations, for Australia as for the rest of the world.