In 1988, under the premiership of Socialist Michel Rocard, a law was finally prepared to split the PTT. The aim of the government was to get the services out of the public administration and to prepare competition from private firms. Such a move was encouraged by the European Economic Community, and the United Kingdom had already separated its national telephone company from its postal services in 1981. Most of the other member states did the same in the late 1980s and early 1990s.