Leaders meet in crucial session

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32612, 21 May 1971, Page 1

Leaders meet in crucial session

(London correspondent of “The Press")

PARIS, May 20.

President Pompidou wants to score a badly-needed diplomatic success in his meeting with Mr Heath and ensure that Britain crosses the watershed into Europe under the patronage of Paris.

The French leader is seen in Paris as ardently wanting Britain to join the Community but adopting a thoughtful approach to the eight hours of private talks which start today at the Elysee Palace.

President Pompidou’s foreign policy has been described by his critics as “nondiplomacy.” In the bitter oil struggle with the Algerians, France failed to gain the initiative even once and was finally out-manoeuvred.

The monetary crisis provided another reverse earlier this month for the French when the Germans unilaterally floated the Deutschmark and took the Netherlands with them.

The German decision did surprise Mr Pompidou; indeed, it strengthened his belief that Britain should enter the Community rapidly as a counter-weight to Bonn’s growing economic and industrial power. It is clear, however, that France will not give the impression today that she anxiously awaits Britain’s entry at any price so that together the two can stand up to a resurgent West Germany. MAJOR HURDLES This Paris summit on which so much depends is a dangerous trapeze act between two complete strangers, neither of whom speaks the other’s language. Their talks will be conducted with only interpreters present. A great deal will depend on what degree of understanding can emerge quickly between the two leaders. There are several major hurdles to be cleared in this fascinating personal confrontation.

The main one for France is the role of sterling. On this Mr Ppmpidou will seek a firm engagement from Mr Heath that its reserve role will be abandoned and that sterling balances will be frozen and later reduced.

He will insist that Britain takes steps not to jeopardise the currencies of the Six and will assert that sterling is a greater monetary danger to Europe than the Deutschmark. U.S. POSITION Mr Pompidou has already stated clearly his wish to discover whether Britain has a true European conception. The test for this will be Mr Heath’s view of Britain’s special relationship with the United States. If Britain is now truly European, the French say, then it will be prepared to defend the interests of the Community even to the detriment of American interests.

The French want to push the New Zealand butter and cheese issue into the background. This is perhaps be-

cause on this point France is unwilling to deign to make concessions.

Sales of milk are the daily income of many thousands of small French farmers. To endanger this source of revenue for the'sake of a small number of New Zealand dairy farmers would be regarded as internal political folly of the worst kind. BELGIAN VISIT Shortly after meeting Mr Heath, the French President will make an official visit to Belgium. General de Gaulle did not include Brussels among his wide travels, and Mr Pompidou’s call is seen as underlining his wish to be acknowledged as a “true

European.” If Britain enters the Common Market, the post-war plan of Robert Schumann will take on its full historical significance. This plan was the first of the great French contributions to Europe over the last 20 years. Mr Schumann also planned a Franco-German reconcilation, which was pursued by General de Gaulle.

The missing entity in Europe, say the French, is Britain. In the next two days Mr Pompidou wants to make an indelible mark on history

by ensuring that it is France and not West Germany that will escort Britain into the Continent. FRENCH LANGUAGE

On the sensitive issue of the role of the French language in an enlarged Community, Mr Heath will try to reassure President Pompidou that Britain is not seeking to supplant French as a Common Market working language. In recent statements the French leader has expressed his concern that British membership might lead to English becoming the dominant Community language; this, in his view, could weaken Europe’s efforts to retain its separate cultural identity from the United States.