Germany, Britain now stand together

Press, 15 May 1981, Page 8

Germany, Britain now stand together

By DAVID SPANIER, “The Times,” London A major shift in the balance of power in the European Economic Community took place at the AngloGerman summit' meeting which ended on Wednesday. Although Mr Helmut Schmidt, the West German Chancellor, and the British Prime Minister, (Mrs Margaret Thatcher) signalled their readiness to work closely with France and expressed their personal wish to have an early meeting with Francois Mitterrand, the French President-elect, it is now clear that West Germany and Britain stand shoulder to shoulder on economic reform of the Community.

Their new alliance, based on the two countries’ joint concern at being the biggest contributors to the European budget, has been in the making for some time — but it has never been demonstrated so publicly before.

“It is for the French people to choose their President and for us to work with the French choice,” Mrs Thatcher told a news conference after the talks. “We both look forward to establishing a warm personal relationship of the kind that the Chancellor and myself enjoy. We very much look forward to meeting him.”

Mrs Thatcher said she did not envisage any problems in working with a French socialist leader. The new President, she said, represented his country, not a political party, whatever its colour might be — just as she and Mr Schmidt represented their countries in the Community.. Most striking was the fact that in describing the. main issues confronting the Community — restructuring the budget and reforming the Common Agricultural Policy — Mrs Thatcher and' Mr Scmidt voiced the same concerns using almost identical terms. Discussing the budget, Mrs

Thatcher said: “We are verv much aware we are.the two main contributors — by far the largest is the Federal Republic of Germany and we are second. The rest of the members of the Community are beneficiaries.”

They had both confirmed that the present .proportion of the E.E.C. budget covered by value-added tax receipts should be limited to 1 per cent, Mrs Thatcher said.

The co-responsibility levies (divided between consumers and producers) must be kept under control. .Britain believed that these levies were unfair to the big consuming countries.

Mr Scmidt said he and Mrs Thatcher had agreed on certain elements which .were "indispensable” to a solution.

“We cannot have any solution by which some States get unlimited net transfers and some States make unlimited net payments,” he said. "There ought to be some reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.”