OCTOBER 27 L972
N0.
15THE VTEW FROM THE SUMT,TIT
The settingJ was onTg 250
feet
above sea 7eve7,but the
"summit" wasprobabJg
the
highestjn its
overviewof
Europeanaffaits since
the 7979 Versaill-esConference.
Nowthe chiefs of the
enlarged EulopeanConanunitg's
nine
memberstates
arepresenting to their
respective home aud.iences the successfuL resu-Ltsof
the Octobet 79-20 meetingin Paris:
* transition to
the second stageof
economic and monetarg union onJanuarg
7,
1974 and. compTetionnot Tater
than Decenber3f,
7980-The
creation of a
European Monetacg Coopetation Fund was confirmed, anda
cofitrnonpnsition
agreedfor internationaL
fl}cnetalg reform.* creation of a
Regional Development Fund bg December 37, f973* a
Communitg ptogram bg Januarq 1,, 7974for
an enTargedSociaf
Fund* a
Communitg program andtinetabfe
before Januarg7'
7974for
a connan jndustria7, scientif ic,
and technoTogicaTpTicg
* a
Conanunitg program and tinetabTe bg JuTg3L,
L973for a
coilmonenvironmentaT
pnlicg
* a
Corununitg program as soon aspossible for
guaranteeing energgsupplies at
-reasonabTe costs*
nore coordinated.fore'ign
trnTicies aflpng the memberstates,
includingfour rather
than two annual meetingsof
memberstates' foreign
ministers
* a
Communitg ptogram as soonas
trnssiblevis-at-vis
the developing countries* liberaLization of
worLdtrade
anda
npreintensive
dialoguewith
the united States
and JaPan*
strengthening and democtatizationof
the Coranunityinstitutions
* d.raft reports from
the Communitginstitutions before the
endof
1975on
transfotming the present Communitginto a
Europeanllnion.
?hesereports
wouTd be submittedto a
SummitConference-The Sunmit
thus
produced,for
the most;rart,
caTlsfor
action-O.bseryers notedthat the
Communitg had madethe npst
Progxessin
thelnst
whenestabl.jshing
such setf-inpnsed tjmetab-les and deadl,jnes.EUROPEAN
COMMUNITY
NEWS
PUBLISHED
FORTNIGHTLYT he contents of this newsletter may be quoted ol reproduced without lurther permission.
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
2100 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.20037 phone: (202) 872-8350
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MANSHOLT TAKES STOCK
rrlt
could mean everythingor it
could mean nothirg,"
EC ComnissionPresident Sicco
L.
Mansholttold
an October 23 news conferencein
Brussels,
referring
to
a
new phrasethat
had emerged fromthe
Paris Summit--
rrEuropeanunion.rr
Thechiefs
of
the
enlarged Comnunitytsnine
memberstates
had spoken repeatedlyof
a
Europeanunion,
butwithout
defining
its
nature
--
whether c_ooperation,confederation,
orfederation.
Thenext
Sununitwill
haveto
define
the
characterof
this
Europeanunion, Mr.
Mansholtsaid.
Butin
any case,"political
Europe has been thawed.r'The Commission President expressed general
satisfaction
with
the extensive work programsoutlined
at
the
Summit. Hecalled
on the present Commissionrrto leave behinda
political
testamentof
what thenew Commission
[of
the
enlarged Community]
cando.
We now need astrong
Commissionwith a
strong
intelligence
andstrong
imagination.r'Mr.
Mansholtregistered
disappointment, however,with the
Summitrsfailure to
tackle
Communityinstitutional
reform,
such asa
directly
elected European Parliament
with
real
powers.
I'The Summit has not cleared upthe
situationr"
hesaid.
Mr.
Mansholt wasalso
disappointedthat
the
Sunmit"did not
recognizethe
desires
of
the Third
World.rrIn
conclusion,Mr.
Mansholtsaid,
that
althoughthe
Summit mayhave accomplished
nothing
in
the short term,
it
had opened greatpossibilities for
the
future. rrlt
now depends onthe
rnembersrpolitical
will to
makea
European unionwith
real
powers and responsibleto
adirectly-elected
Parliament,rr he said.THE SCRATCHY I ID I SCI I
The United
States
is all
wrongon
its
figures
whenit
comesto
the Domesticlnternational
Sales Corporation (OtSC), accordingto
the European Community. USfigures
showthat
DISC'sgain
only
5
cents on each $100exported.
The Community,on the
other
hand, calculatesthat
the
eventual DISCbenefits
would amountto
$4.50 on $100 inexports.
The DISC program,part
of
the
RevenueAct
of
1971, givesexporting
companiestax deferral
on upto !0
per cent
of
the
exportprofits.
Domesticcritics
chargethat this
loss
in
tax
revenuewill
haveto
be made up bythe
averagetaxpayer.
Foreigncritics,
includingthe
Community,
maintain
that
DISCviolates
the
General Agreement onTariffs
and Trade(Cnff) rules
against export
subsidies.BOOTH SEEKS US-EC UNDERSTANDING
A
world
conference oninternational
investments was suggested by Arch Booth, Vice Presidentof
the
US Chamberof
Commerce,during a
recent Europeanvisit.
Sucha
conference, hesaid,
woul,destablish
rulesfor
both
foreign
investors
andthe
host
countries.
Meetingwith
ECCommission Secretary General Emile Noel October
4
in
Brussels, Mr.Booth
also
notedthe
positive
attitude in
Europeancapitals
following
the
US proposalsat
the International
MonetaryMeeting.
He warned,TED POMP I DOU HEET GEORGES HEATH
When
Britain
joins
the
European Communityin
January,.Britainrs
l8 Conservative membersjust
mightsit,
asa
group,with
Francers l9Gaul I
ists
in the
European Parl iament.Tory
strategists
are
hardat
work decidingjust
whomto
throwtheir
weight
to.
ldeologically, Britainrs
Conversatives belongwith the
Strasbourg ParliamentrsLiberal
bloc,
since
rrLiberal",on
the Continent,
refers
to
believers
in
Iiberal,
laissez-fai
reeconomics.
This
bloc
is
mostly
ltal
ian,
andltal
ian
Liberals
havebeen
courting
Premier Heathrs men;but
"progressivel Tories
regardthe
Ital
ian
Liberals as too
far to
the right.
Mr.
Heathhimself,
and manyof his
strongestrrpro-Europeanlfol
lowers wouldprefer
to join
the
Christian
Democrats.This
wouldal
ign the
British
governingparty with a
predominantly Germanforce,
and makethe
Christian
Democratsthe
Parl iamentrs largestbloc
--
roughly 40per cent
of
the
Common Marketlegislature.
Onefactor
pushi ng Heath towards this
al I iance is that
Germany wasconsistently a
powerfulfriend
of Britain in
the
tortuous
negotia-tions
to
bring
the
United Kingdominto
the
Community.But ltalian
Christian
Democrats, whooffer
themselvesin ltal
ian
elections
asa substitute
"progressive'rforce
to
the
Communists and the Socialists,
want nopart
of
an
image-destroying al I iance withBr i ta
inrs
'rbig
bus inessrr party.President Pompidouts (Gaul I
ist)
European Democratic Union (EDU) has been makingovertures
to
the
Conservativesalso.
Joining
the group which hasgiven
the
British
negotiators the greatest
troublein
the
past makes Machiavel Iian
sense,since
marriages imply mutualconcessions, and
the
advantagefor
the
Gaul Iist
bloc
would be doubledstrength
(becomingthe
European Parl iamentrs third
Iargest group) anda
sheddingof
the
grouprschauvinist,
mono-tribal
image.A
fourth
alternative,
also
underconsideration,
is for
theTories
to
forma
separategroup,
like
the
EDU. But aswell
aslooking
like
an
inauspiciousI'mono-tribalr
start in
EuropeanParliamentary
life,
forminga
separate Torybloc
wouldalso
mean poor chancesof
securing chairmanshipsof
committees, and fewer chancesto
speakin
debate--
since
time
is
allocated
to
blocs onthe basis
of their
size.The European Parl iament has few powers
at
presentbut
theseare
expectedto
grow--
although onepoint
that
the
Conservatives sharewith
the Gaullists
is
a desire not
to
seethe
StrasbourgIegislature
becomea real
legislature
for
many years.Meanwhi
le, in
the
immediatefuture,
therers
a
fifth
possible choicefor
Conservatives appointedto
serve
in
Strasbourg--
that they may neverget
there
at all.
lf Britainrs
LaborParty
goesthrough
with
Chairman Wedgwood Bennrsthreat
to
boycott
theStrasbourg
Parliament, the
dangerof
being votedout
of office
whileaway would keep Heathts
lB
parl iamentaryvoters
backin
VJestminster.(The'rnational"
membershipof
the
enlarged European Parlamentin
Januarywill be: Britain,
France, Germany, andltaly,
16members each; Belgium and
the
Netherlands,l4
each; Denmark andlreland,
l0
each; and Luxembourg,six.)
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COMMISSION ENVISIONS AGRICULTURAL INCOME SUPPORTS
Next year may see
a
shift in
the
Communityts commonagricultural
policy
(Cnp).
ln
postponinga
decision
onagricultural
price
supports unti Ithe
enlarged Community beginsoperating next
January,the
Conmis_sionon Octobei 20 noted ways
other
thanprice
supportsto
maintain
farmrevenue, such
as
incomesupport.
Underthe
presentprice
support system,large
pioducersbenefit
most.
lncomesupports,
onthe other
hand, wouldkeep
the
I ittle
farmerrs pocketbookful
l.
GOLD MONEY AI.ID INFLATION
The
British
andItalian
paymentof
foreign
debtsin
everything but gold may becomethe
Communityrule
rather
thanthe exception.
EC CommissionVice
President Raymond Barreleft
openthis possibility
when
reporting
to
the
European Parliament October 11 onthe
decisionto
create a
European Monetary Cooperation Fund.At
present,
Common Marketcountries are
supposedto
pay debts to eachother
in
gold, do1lars,
or
special
drawingrights in
proportionto
the
compositionof their
reserveassets.
This
formula,
agreed tolast
spring,
wasa
stage towardthe
projected
economic and monetaryunion,
of
whichMr.
Barre wasthe chief
architect.
But,
with
the
free marketprice
of
gold
almosttwice
the
official price, Italy
balked atsettling
debtsin gold. Britain, too, after
borrowingheavily
andfloating
the
pound, used assetsother
thangold
to
repaydebts.
Nowit
appearsthat
perhapsall
the
memberstates
may freezetheir
gold reservesuntil
the
status
of
gold
in
a
reformedinternational
monetary systemis
established.In
anothersurprise
move,Mr.
Barretold
the
Parliamentthat
theCommunity should keep
the
lid
on constrmerprice
increasesnext
yearat
5per
cent
--
rather
thanthe
5.5
per
cent
target
suggestedearlier
by
the
Commission. Thecurrent rate
of price
increasesin
the
Comnunityis
set
at
about6
per
cent.
Withoutefforts to
steminflation,
Mr.Barre
said,
this rate
could reach7 per cent next
year.PRESS
VIEWS
NOT BUILT IN A DAY
lf
Rorne wasnrtbuilt in
a
day,
neither
wasthe
European EconomicCom-munity,
whichis
only
a
few months away from expandingits
membershipfrom
six to
nine and which hasjust
emerged from anotherperiod of
Summit soul-searching
in
a mood somewhat moreoptimistic
than thecynics
hadexpected....Tentative
steps were taken toward an eventualEEC
central
bank throughthe
agreementto
launchthe
European MonetaryFund
next
April l,
towardregional
assistence schemes, towarda
common energypolicy
at
somefuture
date and even towardthe ideal
of
ultimatepolitical unity that
some EEC members wantbut that
others
view withAN INERTIAL FORCE
"And
yet, ii
moves!"
Despitethe pursuit
of
narrowobjectives
by memberstates,
procrastination
on eventhe
Iimited
surrendersof
sovereignty scheduled
in
the basic
treaty,
and inexcusable delays onerecting
democraticcontrols over
its
machinery,the
EuropeanCommunity
is
prospering.
Theretiring
American Ambassadorto
the Community,J.
Robert Schaetzel,correctly
perceives traninertial
force
which moves Europeon.r'
Eventhe
nryriadnuts
and bolts requiredto
adjust
the
machineryto
a
nine-nation
Communitywill
expand
the
areaof integration.
Fromnext
January,to
take oneexample,
the
Communitywill
negotiate
as anentity
on any tradetreaties with
outside
countries.
Moreover,the
accessionof
Britain in
particular
wi II
make inexorablyfor
a
moreoutward-looking,
freer-trading
Community, concernedwith
morethan
its
ownparochial problems.
vJhatthe
community needsis obvious. lt
needsinstitutions,
subject
to
democraticcontrols,
to
administer andeventually
to
shape thosepolicies
which memberstates
arewilling
to
assignto
supranationalauthority.
Andit
badly
needsa
revivalof
the
spirit
that
motivated such postwargiants
as Monnet and Schumannof
France, De Gasperi and Sforzaof ltaly,
BelgiumrsSpaak and West Germanyrs Adenauer
not
only
to
conceivethe
dreambut
to
chart
the
coursefor
a united Europe.
-- Editorial,
The New York Times, October19,
1972.THE SEMICOLON SUMMIT
PARIS
-- In
a
symbolic sense[the]
neeting
of
the nine
governmentchiefs
of
rrEuroperr--
meaningthe
newly enlarged Common Market--should represent a punctuation mark
in
contemporaryprogress.
Perhapsit
might serve asa
semicolonin
the
sentencethat
beganwith
the 1957 Treatyof
Rome, bandingtogether
the
Communitytsfirst six
membersand
leading
into
an unknownfuture.
Arnold Toynbee,the
historian,
who has
a
gift for
the
apt
phrase, observes:rrWestern Europe has atlast
beenunited
ona
Napoleonicscale, not
through conquestthis
time,
but
voluntarily.'r....But
there
is
nothing
even approaching a supergovernmentyet,
somethingthat
couldbind the
nine
members toits decisions.
Thehabit
of
nationalism
still
runs strong
below thesurface
appearanceof
internationalism....The structure
of
the
new Europe has beenlargely
erectedbut the bricks
stiIl
needto
becemented
together. --
C.L.
Sulzbetger,
The Newyork
Times, 0ctober20,
L972.GIVING EUROPE A HUMAN FACE
The Summit was noteworthy
for
the
new awarenessof
the
needto
givethe
Common Market arrhumanface.'r
Therecent
shockof
Norwaytsrejection
of
membership andthe
continuing
oPPositionto
joining
onthe part
ofmany
British
have pointed upthis
needto
break away fromthe
Marketrsbureaucratic
image andbring
it
closer
to
the people...The
nine statesmen have sketchedout a
framework andset
the goals
for
the
newEurope.
A tremendous amountof
work remainsto
be doneto fill in
the details.
Theaction
programoutlined
for
next
year
is
so overloadedthat it
may be too muchfor
the
Communityinstitutions in
Brussels toswallow.
Butthe
Summit hasdispelled the
imageof
a
Europe losingits
momentum.lt
has achievedfar
more than many had daredto
hope.--
Edi tor ia I,
?hechristian
sciencel"lonitot,
October24,
1972.m
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G, I uJ
A COMMON IICOSMETICII MARKET
As 'rmakeup" becomes again
a
popular consumerissue
in
the
UnitedStates,
the
EC Councilof
Ministers
in
consideringa
directive
to
harmonize member
statesr
laws oncosmetics.
Theproposal,
submitted October6
bythe
Commission, wouldset
conmon standardsboth
for
cosnetic ingredients
andlabeling
aswe11.
Thedirective
includesa list of
forbidden dangerousor
allergenic
substances.
ThisCommission proposal
is
the
fifty-third to
harmonize divergentnational
legislation,
with resultant benefits not only
to
the
con-sumer
but
to liberalization of
trade.LOW MEIN
?
LOW TRICK!Chinese
pork
is
excellent,
but
it isnrt
Danish.
Ethiopian beef maybe good,
but
it isnrt
goodFrench.
The EC Commission has launched"n
steaksinruitigation
are
circulating in
into
allegations
Europewith
that
forged Chinese papersribs
and Ethiopianas Common Marketmeat.
Behind
this
sweet and sourstory lies
the
cheapnessof
Chineseand
African
farm produce comParedto
the
hi9h,
subsidizedprices
offood
that
European farmers producethemselves.
'rNatural ized" European,the
Chinese and Ethiopian meat escapes import taxes.WORTH QUOTING
I
wouldnot
beat
aLl,jnterested in writing a
trnem aboutthe
entrvof Britain into
the Economic Market,or
whatever theg ca77it.
--Sit
John Betienan, Enqfand's Poet Laureate' quotedin
Newsweek,october
23,
7972.This mateflal is filed wtth the Depailment ol Justice wherc the required rcgistrclion statement ol the Eurcpean Community lntotmation Olhce, Washtngon, D C.20037, as an agent ot the Commission ol the European Communtties, Erusse/s, is available lor inspection. Registrction does not indicate approval ol lhts matetial by the Untted States Governmenl
FIRST CLASS
EUROPEAN COMMUNITY NEWS