Britain slips quietly into Europe

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33113, 2 January 1973, Page 9

Britain slips quietly into Europe

; (N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) I LONDON, Jan. 1. With a notable lack of ceremony, Britain slipped into full membership of the Common Market at one minute past midnight, along with the Irish Republic and Denmark.

t Government centres in; Whitehall were in darkness, the atmosphere around them enlivened only by the sounds of revelry from the traditional New Year’s Eve crowds in Trafalgar Square. No official celebration had; been arranged to mark the) moment when Britain, in the! phrase of the Prime Minister) (Mr Heath) “acquires a Euro-! pean dimension.” At the precise moment of) entry Mr Heath was in Ot-! towa, boarding the aircraft) that was to bring him home; from the funeral of thei former Canadian Prime Min-; ister, Mr Lester Pearson. ) Neither the Foreign Secre-j tary (Sir Alec Douglas-Home); nor the Chancellor of the' Exchequer (Mr John Davies), the two Ministers most con-i cerned, had arranged any; official function to mark the culmination of Britain’s long) battle to join the Community. [ But in a message published; in the Conservative Party’s monthly news bulletin, Mr) Heath says he believes that even those who doubted the: decision to go into Europe; now think it right that Britain should make the most of; her new opportunities. “We are not submerging; ourselves in some alien form; of government,” he says. "We; are not losing any of the! things that we prize in our’ own life in Britain. We are) enriching that life by adding' to it a new European dimen-' sion and new European op-! portunities. “It is an exciting time to live and work in Britain.” London’s nearest approach; to an official celebration was a torchlight procession arranged by the London-Europe.' Society, which ended with ■ the presentation of a tankard

|to a former Labour Government Minister, Mr George Thompson, one of Britain’s new Common Market Commissioners. Mr Thompson later attended an “Into Eurjope” celebration organised |by the European Movement. ) The other Commissioner, ’Sir Christopher Soames, the! former Ambassador to) I France, saw in the New Year) [with his family in the coun-; ! try. Britain’s official celebration, the 11-day, £350.000 '[“Fanfare for Europe,” begins ion Wednesday with a gala ! performance at the Covent ) Garden Opera House, atj tended by the Queen and [European eider statesmen. It continues with offerings;

as diverse in status and content as Continental cookery demonstrations at Scottish gas showrooms; European poets declaiming in Lincoln's inn; basketball in Edinburgh; music in Birmingham; and trampolining in Cardiff. No dramatic changes in life-style confront Britons for the moment. They will be able to travel freely at once to the other eight E.E.C. member-countries to seek work, and may receive certain social security benefits from their host country. But other changes, in tariffs, agriculture, and the implementation of community laws, will be more gradual. Housewives are unlikely to see anv change in their shop-

I ping bills arising from Mar|ket prices for several months ■The move, when it comes, i will be upwards, but the 'Government says that this [will be compensated for by ■ greater prosperity. A piper playing a lament ■ led a torchlight procession past the Houses of Parliaj ment on Saturday, in the last protest against British entry. I Five hundred people, many (with blazing torches, took rpart in the march, which [came after a series of anti- [ Market speeches at a rally in [Central I.ondon. I An Opposition Labour i Party member of Parliament, Mr Douglas Jay, told the [crowd that Parliament could 'repeal the act taking Britain

into Europe just a* easily as it passed it. “Some lawyers.” he said, "maintain that such a move would be a breach of the Treaty of Rome, but if that is so. I am afraid it cannot be helped." Mr Peter Shore, the Labour Party’s official spokesman on European affairs, said that the day of destiny for Britain was not January 1. 1973, hut polling day in the next General Election. “On that day.” he said, "the people of Britain will at last be able to exercise that power to decide their own future which the present Government ha* both denied them, and which it has itself so appallingly abused.”