The ‘Reflections’ which follow were written in October 1979. The months in between have been rich in developments within the Community and in the world. This brief introduction is an attempt, not to take stock of them completely – space for this is lacking – but simply to tie them in with the analyses and orientations worked out some months ago.

The two significant events for the Community were the setback at the European Council in Dublin (29–30 November 1979) and the European Parliament's rejection of the 1980 budget (December 1979). I shall try to assess how the Community and its member-states reacted to two events which tested its cohesion: the new ‘oil shock’ after the OPEC meeting in Caracas and, politically, the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan.