Kirsten Mensch and Thomas Schmidt who eagerly discussed the
pros and cons of my proposal; to Ruth Zimmerling, Rainer
Schmalz-Bruns and all other colleagues who pointed out my errors
but whose advice I did not always heed; to Hans Hirter and
Michael Nentwich who gave information on specific issues; to
Karlheinz Reif who gave support in Brussels and to all those Euro-
pean Community officials who patiently answered my questions
and showed an interest in my project; to Tanja Hitzel-Cassagnes
who finally streamlined the manuscript; and last but not least to
Moritz who suffered most but never tired of cheering me up.

Darmstadt, March 1998.

H. Abromeit

-viii-