The Press SATURDAY, MAY 27, 1967. De Gaulle And The Common Market

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31380, 27 May 1967, Page 12

The Press SATURDAY, MAY 27, 1967. De Gaulle And The Common Market

The next round in Britain’s fight to enter the European Economic Community will be on Monday and Tuesday, when the heads of the Governments of the Six meet in Rome for the tenth anniversary meeting of the Community. The meeting seems likely to resolve itself into a contest between General de Gaulle and the rest of the Six, who will certainly challenge his interpretation of Britain’s latest bid. The General’s prepared speech at his press conference on May 16 showed that bis attitude towards Britain has changed little in five years but that he is conscious of a possible need to change his tactics. “I am not going to prejudge what the “negotiations, if they take place—l repeat, if they “ take place—would be about ”, he said. “ There is “ no question ”, he added innocently, " of there being “ a veto; nor has there ever been one ”. His speech ranged over Britain’s Commonwealth ties, its special relationship with the United States, its "non- “ European outlook ”, and all the other “ formidable “ obstacles ” which he saw as standing in the way of Britain’s entry to the E.E.C. His speech concluded with some very bad economics purporting to show that Britain could not afford to sign the Treaty of Rome. The speech drew an oblique reply from the British Prime Minister (Mr Wilson) the next day. “I don’t wish to prejudge the careful negotiations “ which are to follow our application for entry into " the E.E.C.", he told a businessmen’s audience, “ but “ at the beginning of this year I said that we should “not take no for an answer. That remains our “position”.

Yet there was no mistaking the sense of disappointment in Britain, even though the rebuff was not unexpected. ** The Times ” said that unless the General could be persuaded to change his line, he would not permit Britain to join; Britain’s Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary, “who have, of “ course, always known that the road to Brussels lies “ through Paris, will have to devote their every effort “to persuade the General that he is wrong”. The “ Economist ”, an ardent advocate of British entry into the EJE.C., demolished the General’s economic arguments in a leading article which faithfully reflects the sense of exasperation widespread in Britain. In possibly the bitterest personal attack the journal has ever made on the head of State of a “ friendly ” country, the journal referred to President de Gaulle as “the old president” (twice), an “old “soldier” (twice), an “old man”, the “76-year-old “de Gaulle”, and “the old bellweather”. The article was entitled “ Over his Dead Body ”. But at this stage it is Continental rather than English reaction to the General’s speech which Is relevant Mr Jean Monnet, a former president of the European Coal and Steel Community, said the Important thing was to get negotiations started. “ In “ what sort of association would we be living", he asked, “ if the Six were to reject without discussions “the request of a great European democratic coun“try massively expressed by its representatives to “ enter Europe? " The Benelux countries, according to the E.E.C. correspondent of “The Times ", can be expected to give their full support to Britain’s application. The German Minister of Finance (Mr Strauss) says that the British “ must be given a fair chance “to convince us that the reservations of General “de Gaulle against British entry are without “foundation".

All the indications are that the French President is not prepared to give the British “ a fair chance that however reasonable, or even abject, the British might be, and however forcefully the Five might plead with him, he win continue to assert that the Rome Treaty would have to be renegotiated to accommodate Britain. This would be the death-knell of the Common Market in its present form; and none of its members want that The crucial meeting in Rome next week win show how hard France’s partners are prepared to push “ the old bellweather ". The answer—“not very hard at all”—already suggests itself. One recalcitrant member may seem to the others an almost intolerable nuisance in the club; but they win tolerate him rather than lose the club.