Basic HTML Version
GREECE
(Continued f rom page 4)
any country they please, enjoyi ng
full work a nd welfare bene fits
and thc complete range of social
and cducat ional rights?
Already, in northern and cen–
tral member states, afflicted with
sluggi sh economies, the re a re
growing negative reactions to the
..gucst workers" from sorne of
these same countries.
Little wonder sorne EC pol icy
thinke rs are now talking about a
future two-tiered Community,
composed first of aJI of thosc
members having full status a nd
right of movement for their cit i–
zens, and secondly, for the poorer
countries, sorne sort of permanent
association status. The latter
would enjoy sharing in the EC's
poli ticaJ decision-making powers,
but mig ration of their nat ionals
would be stringently controlled .
Many Tongues, One Voice
Whatever the Common Market 's
immcdiate future , J a nua ry 1,
198 1, was cer tainly a milestone.
The Community has grown
considerably from the six charter
nations who o f ficially banded
togelher on J anuary 1, 1958-
France, Wes t Germany, Italy,
Be lgium, the Nelher lands and
Luxembourg.
On another New Year's Day,
this time in 1973, Britain, Ireland
and Denmark linked up. Norway
also was lo j oin on that date but
opted out at the last minute.
Now Greece is in, making lhe
Nine the T en. Spain and Portugal
may or may not join forces. One
European news source predicts
..monst rous difficulties" could
arise in negot iations with Mad rid
and Lisbon, especially over agri–
culture.
Still , as Theo Sommer, the edi–
tor of West Germany's presli–
gious weekly,
Die Zeit,
editorial–
ized: "The new European idea
has taken root despi te all the
workaday squabbles about nuts
and bolts, c hicken feed and
oranges.... "
The Common Market's compo–
nent parts will not disappear, con-
March 1981
eludes Sommer, "nor will nation–
a l governments dwi nd le into
insignificance.... Yet in the eyes
of the outside world, the Commu–
nity will more and more assume
the character of a si ngle enti ty,
speaking in different tongues but
with one voice, and implementing
a collect ive wi ll. "
Global Reach
T he Communily exerls infiuence
far beyond its European confines,
bolh polilically and economicalty.
More lhan 100 nat ions main–
tain accredited represenlatives at
the Commission headquarters in
Brussels.
In the economic fie ld, the EC
has negotiated comme rcial or
association agreements with more
than ninety countries around the
world. lts mosl important t rade–
and-development assistance tie–
up is with fifty-seven small coun–
t ries of Africa, the Caribbean and
the Pacific. This is known as the
Lomé Convention, named after
the capital of Togo in Africa
where the accords were signed in
1975 and 1979.
The Lomé Convention guaran–
tees free access to the Common
Market for 99.5 percent of the
so-called ACP (A f rica-Car i b–
bean-Paci fic) countr ies. The real
significance of the Lomé pact is
that the links of the fifty-seven
ACP countries are with Brussels,
not the indi vidua l European
countries of the EC.
Recently the EC also signed a
nonpreferential lrade agreement
with the five-nation ASEAN
trade group in Soulheasl Asia.
The Communist world too is
increasingly coming to lerms with
the Common Market. The EC
carries on more than fou r times as
much business with Communist
countries as does the U nited
S tates.
The Soviet Union itself is loath
lo deal with the EC as a bloc,
preferring nat ion-to-nation con–
tacts. Thus relal ions between the
Community and the Moscow–
based East E uropean COME–
CON group are frosty.
Nevertheless, in the summer of
1980, independent-minded Ro–
manía signed its first full trade
accord with the Community. The
pact was regarded on both sides
as economically importan t and
politically symbolic. Romanía has
been developing contacts with the
EC since 1972.
Also i n 198 0 , Yugos lav ia
entered into far-reaching nego–
ti a tions for a new a nd novel
cooperative agreement , whic h, if
accepted, would give Belgrade a
status equivale nt to associatc
membership.
With Grecce in the Markel,
Yugoslavia will now be bordered
by two EC mcmbers (Italy to the
northwest).
Like Babylon of Old
Your Bible pred icts that there
will arise a g reat world-encom–
passing economic-poli ticaJ bloc al
the close of our age-just before
the ushering in of the Kingdom of
God .
It
is spoken of in the book of
Revelation as " Babylon."
Significanlly,
The Wa/1 Street
J ou rna/,
commen ting on the
EC's expanding linguistic diffi–
culties said, on J anuary 12, 1981,
"An official market repor l has
warned tha t the
babel
could
become so great as lo be unman–
ageable."
The thirleenlh verse of Revela–
tion eighteen draws attention to two
producls traded in this coming
" Babylon": oil and wine-both sure
to be in abundance very soon.
And verse seventeen tells of the
far-flung ocean-going trade of
this colossus, referring to "all
shipmaslers and seafaring men,
sailors and all whose trade is on
the sea."
Ult imately ten nations, or
groups of nations, will domínate
the hearl of this system (Revela–
tion 17:12). As lo
which
ten, we
must still wait and see. Events now
occurring in Poland and Eastern
Europe may lead to sorne of those
nations joining forces with the
West. (See "Crisis in Eastern
Europe; Where l t Will Head ,"
February, 1981,
Plain Truth .)
Greece's membersh ip in the
European Communi ty is impor–
tant primarily for the commercial
resources she brings to it- not
because she has become the tenth
member.
o
39