E.E.C. divided over path to efficiency

Press, 2 July 1985, Page 10

E.E.C. divided over path to efficiency

NZPA-Reuter Milan A European Community summit conference that began with high hopes of forging European union ended in disarray and rancour amid deep divisions over how to make the unwieldy grouping more efficient.

The two-day conference was dominated by a row over ways to streamline the 10-nation bloc’s decisionmaking and give a greater role to the European Parliament.

In a surprise move the summit chairman, the Italian Prime Minister, Mr Bettino Craxi, forced through on a majority vote a controversial plan for an inter-Governmental conference to discuss amendments to the community’s founding treaties.

Seven Community members backed the plan, but it was strongly opposed by Britain, Denmark and Greece, all fearful that proposals to restrict existing veto rights could threaten their national interests.

The meeting failed to agree on a mandate for the conference but Mr- Craxi instructed community Foreign Ministers to decide at their next meeting on July 18 what it should discuss.

Mr Craxi claimed the summit conference was a big step towards European unity, but several other leaders showed deep disappointment at its results. The British Prime Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, said the calling of the conference had merely put off vital moves to create a genuine Common Market

among the 10. Mrs Thatcher denounced those who had “delayed, postponed and procrastinated” on urgent measures. She said the conference would fail because unanimity was needed to amend Community treaties.

The Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mr Ruud Lubbers, also described the conference as disappointing, but both the French President, Mr Francois Mitterrand, and the West German Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, said it had shown clearly where each member State stood on European unity. The Milan summit conference discussed a range of political questions including terrorism and the need for greater security at airports and on airliners, Mr Craxi said.