U.K. Demands Equal Rights In E.E.C.

Press, Volume C, Issue 29626, 23 September 1961, Page 15

U.K. Demands Equal Rights In E.E.C.

(Special Correspondent N.ZP.A.)

LONDON, September 22,

Mr Maurice Macmillan, M.P., the son of the British Prime Minister, took strong exception at a meeting in Strasbourg of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe to remarks concerning Britain’s entry into the Common Market made by Professor Hallstein, president of the E.E.C. Commission.

Professor Hallstein had said Britain’s application raised grave and complex problems. Mr Macmillan said it seemed Professor Hallstein had not been sufficiently gracious. “The good that the British have done is often forgotten and the help they are giving now to European unity and security is often glossed over in speeches. If we join, we in Britain are willing to accept the purposes which lie behind the Rome Treaty, but we do expect equal rights in deciding on the means of implementing the treaty,” Mr Macmillan said.

“Sometimes it seems that, almost as punishment for applying late for membership, more must be demanded from Britain and less granted to her.

“Britain has no more to gain from success and no more to lose by failure than

any other European country. We hope for similar advantages and we are prepared to make similar sacrifices,” he said.

The “Daily Telegraph’s” correspondent in Strasbourg says Mr Macmillan was giving his personal views but they were generally accepted as being close to the views of the British Government.

The “Financial Times" correspondent says that negotiations with Britain, Denmark, Ireland and other applicants to join the E.E.C. probably will all begin at once and run on parallel lines, although that with Britain will have precedence for obvious reasons. It was too much to ask other applicants to wait until talks with Britain had been concluded.