In 1958 the European Economic Community “hit the blocks running,” exploded off the mark and then stumbled, not once or even twice but repeatedly – which might have been expected of someone who, having barely learned to walk, tried to sprint. By 1965 it was staggering and never reached the finish, because no one could find the line. Broken off by confused referees, the event would be scheduled to resume once the runner had better command of his feet and knew better what he was doing. The initial phase of the Community's history opened with a burst of energy and idealism, almost immediately encountered unexpected problems that tripped it up, and ended with a change in rules whose significance was at first not completely clear to anyone but that was necessary for integration to resume. The strange tale makes sense only in retrospect.

The founding of the EEC was to have launched a new era of impressive accomplishments, but in fact it occurred at the end of an old era and failed to meet expectations. Even so, the first period in its history was not devoid of results. Its greatest single achievement was the accelerated elimination of tariffs and quotas and the application of a common schedule of external duties over a period of nine instead of twelve years. A customs union thus came into existence earlier than scheduled.