French Opposition To Free Trade Area

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28436, 16 November 1957, Page 13

French Opposition To Free Trade Area

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

(Rcc. 11 p.m.)

PARIS, NOVEMBER 11

The French altitude towards the 17-nation European free trade area stiffened today as the InterGovernment Committee set up Io draft a free trade treaty began negotiations in Palis. Hard bargaining is expected in lhe negotiations following today's “tough” speech by the French Secretary of Stale for Foreign Affairs, Mr Maurice Faure, outlining lhe French position. Conference observers attributed lhe hardening in the French position to growing pressure from the French Employers’ Federation, which has come out strongly against the project, and from lhe farmers who want it deferred until the six-nation Common Market becomes effective.

Mr Faure described the free trade area as “a project heavy with risks and uncertainties.” He said it would give Britain the exclusive advantage of special preferential links with both the Commonwealth, and Europe. Mr Faure is leading the French delegation at the three-day meeting presided over by the British Paymaster-General (Mr Reginald Maudling) the committee’s chairman The Ministers have before them a questionnaire prepared by Mr Maudling which summarises the main problems facing the negotiators. After Mr Faure had addressed the 17-nation committee today, his aides summarised his speech as follows: A clear choice was open to the negotiators. They could draft a detailed treaty, modelled strongly on the Treaty of Rome, the Common Market Treaty embodying all the same special guarantees and escape clauses. In this case the area could include a large variety of goods and could gain France’s whole-hearted support. Alternatively, a more looselyworded treaty could be drafted, without the Common Market’s special clauses; but in this case its scope would have to be severely restricted to those goods, the greater part of whose value was added within the area. French Proposals Mr Faure was also reported to have made the following proposals: (1) External tariffs: The longterm aim of the free trade area on this question should be the same as that of the Common Market—that is, an external tariff common to all member countries. (2) Institutions: On the question of institutions to administer the free trade area, he said decisions in the area would have to be taken unanimously unless a supranational body was set up. Mr Faure said the fact that countries in the free trade zone could fix their own external customs tariffs and follow their own commercial policy constituted “an element of insecurity which could only grow in importance as tariffs in the zone were reduced.” Another difficulty would be Britain’s double allegiance to the Commonwealth and the free trade zone. which Mr Faure said “would create an exclusive advantage in favour of Britain which would upset the condition of competition.” “Definition of Origin” Mr Maudling’s committee met this afternoon to examine one of the hardest technical problems facing the negotiators of the proposed free trade area—that of

Definition of origin.”

Under the free trade area plan, each member country would be required to maintain its own external tariffs towards the rest of the world, while gradually scaling down its trade barriers with other member countries.

This poses the problem that goods—mainly raw materials and partly-processed items—could enter the area through countries with low external tariffs and then move freely within the area.

To counter this, complicated procedures to define the origin of goods would have to be adopted.