The object of the Maastricht meeting is ambitious: to lay out the ground rules for a full economic and political union-an EC with a single currency, a single defense and foreign policy and a parliament that would largely supplant 12 national legislatures. The immediate results will be far more modest; Germans and Italians won’t be paying their grocery bills with European Currency Units any time soon. But don’t be deceived. Europe is well on its way to becoming a single economic unit of 400 million people from Portugal to Poland-and maybe beyond. Vast amounts of investment now flow from one country to another, and almost all controls on the flow of goods and people among the 12 current EC countries will be gone by the end of next year. One set of rules will govern most aspects of transportation, antitrust law and environmental policy throughout the Community. The squabbles at Maastrich alter that not at all. “The really important steps toward the reconstitution of Europe have already been taken,” says New York investment banker Thomas Enders.

Europeans, admittedly, are of many minds about the future. Enthusiasts such as French President Francois Mitterrand envision a union of states in a European federation; EC headquarters in Brussels, which already dispenses farm subsidies and regulates international trade, would take on new authority. Critics such as former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher object that giving the EC power over labor relations, social programs and economic policy would destroy the role of national governments. Germans, while strongly for unification in principle, want a Europe that looks a lot like, well, Germany-with generous social legislation and a central bank free of political influence that could weaken its will to fight inflation. Reconciling these conflicting visions has taken months of tense negotiation that continued through the weekend,

The details remain fuzzy, but the economic outlines of the New Europe are clear. It will be larger than today’s EC: Austria, Sweden and other wealthy non-members are expected to join soon, and Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and the Baltic States may enter by the end of the decade. Membership is vital to the economic recovery of those former communist lands. “The critical issue is, will those countries have access to Western Europe?” asks economist David Hale of Kemper Financial Services. “They need that market.”

And much of Europe will operate under a single set of economic policies. After 1996, countries that wish to scrap their separate moneys in favor of a common currency will probably be able to do so-provided they manage to bring their inflation rates and budget deficits into line first. Currency union is less momentous than it appears, since most EC currencies already are bound to the German mark; that’s why Germany’s high interest rates, meant to keep inflation in cheek as east Germany rebuilds, are bringing pain to the less buoyant economies elsewhere in Europe. Nonetheless, having one currency will cut costs for business substantially and will enhance the EC’s clout abroad. “The creation of a European central bank and a single currency will change U.S.-European relations fundamentally,” argues C. Randall Henning of Washington’s Institute for International Economics.

Americans’ worst fear–that Europe would turn into a protectionist fortress–has not come to pass. But as Maastricht shows, transatlantic relations face a far less dramatic problem. The endless bargaining over economic and political integration is absorbing almost all of Europe’s energies while more distant issues, such as the global trade talks in Geneva and a dispute with the United States over aircraft subsidies, suffer from neglect. The EC desperately wants to be a bigger player on the global stage. The question is, will it ever find the time?

Maastricht boils down to an attempt by the EC heads of government to smooth over the most divisive issues facing the Community:

Every country but Britain wants more power for the Eurocrats in Brussels.

There will be a European currency and one central bank-but Britain can opt out.

Spain, Portugal, Greece and Ireland insist on more aid from richer countries.

Members are split on whether the EC needs a defense force separate from NATO.

Most countries hope to pass on this political hot potato to the EC.

Italy, Germany seek to strengthen weak institution; Britain resists.