The Press MONDAY, JUNE 19, 1967. “No Safeguards” No Cause For Alarm

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31399, 19 June 1967, Page 12

The Press MONDAY, JUNE 19, 1967. “No Safeguards” No Cause For Alarm

The communique issued after the talks in London about the effect of Britain’s intended entry into the European Economic Community contains no mention of any guarantee to New Zealand. This should occasion little surprise, let alone alarm, at this stage. The communique, after listing the main participants —Mr Marshall, the New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister, and Mr Bowden, the British Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs reported that the “ main purpose of the consultations was to consider “ jointly what safeguards should be sought for New “ Zealand’s essential interests in British negotiations “ with the E.E.C. ” It was agreed, the communique concluded, “ that there should continue to be the “ closest possible liaison and consultation between “ the two Governments ”. ‘ Liaison and consultation however close, are no substitute for guarantees; but guarantees are no substitute for the intention to stand behind them.

Before the talks started the British delegation must have been apprehensive about the wording of the final communique. Would the New Zealanders demand a renewed assurance that their “ essential “interests” should be maintained, whatever the outcome of Britain’s negotiations with the E.E.C.? A communique couched in such terms would have prejudiced and might even have prevented any negotiations. It is less than a month since President de Gaulle said, with his tongue in his cheek, that he was not going to prejudge “what the negotiations, “ if they take place I repeat, if they take place ” would be about; it was not, and never had been, a question of a veto. The Englishmen Mr Marshall met last week cannot have forgotten the implied conditions, in the President’s speech, for British entry to the E.E.C. “ England ”, he said, “ which is not a “ continental country, which, because of the “ Commonwealth and its own island status has far “ away commitments, and which is tied to the United “ States by all sorts of special arrangements, could “ not merge into a community of fixed dimensions “ and rigorous rules ”.

Clearly, if Britain is to be allowed even to start negotiations the British cannot issue communiques promising any Commonwealth member to maintain “ far away commitments ”, But its spokesmen could, privately, tell New Zealand or any other Commonwealth country what it hoped to win during the negotiations provided New Zealand did not insist on a further declaration from Britain which President de Gaulle could point to as “ evidence ” that the British were still tied to the Commonwealth. The confident tone of Mr Marshall’s interview with the special correspondent of the New Zealand Press Association at the conclusion of his talks suggests that he was given such assurances, and that he sets some store by them. “There are no guarantees of “ anything; just a determination to make every “effort to safeguard New Zealand’s position”, Mr Marshall said.

What was not reported in the communique is probably of more significance than what did appear. Britain’s negotiations "if they take place” have certainly not been prejudiced by this communique or by what has been divulged of the talks. If the negotiations do produce a firm offer to Britain to join the E.E.C. on stipulated terms, then, and only then, will Mr Marshall’s talks assume significance. And the real significance of these talks has certainly not been disclosed in the communique.