Basic HTML Version
A
t the October Common Market
rt
Summit Conference in París,
the heads of government of the
nine nations of the European
Community agreed on a far-rang–
ing program.
It
was accompanied
by fixed timetables aimed at trans–
lating the guidelines they set for
the Community's development
into concrete policies. t{ere, in
chronological order, are the impor–
tant dateljnes set out
in
the Sum–
mit communiqué:
APRIL 1, 1973: Establishment of a
European monetary cooperation
fund, the first step toward an even–
tual single currency for the Com–
munity.
JUNE 30: A report by European
Community Fo(eign Ministers on
methods of j.mproving foreign pol–
icy coordination.
JULY
1:
Agreement on a common
EC position for the intemational
trade negotiations that are ex–
pected to get under way later
in
the year.
JuLY 31: The establishment of a
program of action, accompanied
by a precise timetable, for a Com–
munity-wide environmental policy.
SEPTEMBER 30: Proposals for
strengtbening the machinery for
short-run monetary support.
existence, had failed to attract the
man
in
tbe street."
Progress lnch by lnch
Tbe sting of the Norwegian veto
was still on the rninds of tbe heads
of state of "the Nine" wben they
convened in París for their historie
Summit Conference on October 19
and 20.
At first, little was expected from
END
OF
1973: Proposals for the
progressive pooling of the EC
countries' monetary reserves.
END
OF
1973: Creation of a re–
gional development fund, aimed at
the "correction of regional imbal–
ances."
END
OF
1973: A program of action,
accompanied by precise time–
tables, for a common policy in the
field of science and technology.
With this sbould come a deünition
of a common industrial policy
aimed at establishing a single in–
dustrial base for the Community.
END
OF
1973 : A program to
in–
volve labor and management in
the economic and social decisions
of the CommunJty.
JANUARY 1, 1974: Transition to the
second stage of economic and
monetary union shou1d occur, fol–
lowing the necessary decisions
taken during 1973 to provide for
its implementation.
END
OF
1975: Proposals to be
brought forth on how to transform
the European Community into its
goal of a European Union. This re–
port will forro the basis of a 1975
or 1976 summit conference.
1980: Establishment of a "Euro–
pean Union," including full eco–
nomic and monetary integration.
the two-day talks which were in–
tended to lay the groundwork for
the development of the expanded
Common Market for the decade of
the 70's. Earlier, the conference had,
in fact, almost been scuttled by host
President Georges Pompidou, who
had been disappointed by the fail–
ure of bis Market partners to agree
to one of bis favorite projects -
the establishment of a Comrnunity
"political secretariat" in Paris.
Thus, the Summit had "two
strikes against it" when it opened -
the Norwegian jolt and Pompidou's
reaction. It looked for a while that
the only purpose of the Summit
would be to host a "champagne and
caviar" reception for the three new
members-to-be.
But the very fact that the nine
heads of state, together with their
retinues of foreign and finance min–
isters, were determined to go
through with the highly publicized
meeting seemed to predetermine a
certain measure of success. To have
left Paris empty-handed, in a quar–
relsome spirit of disunity, would
have set their common cause back
severa! years.
Ambitious Timetable Set
Looking back on it now, there is
no doubt that the París Summit of
1972 will match the six-nation
Hague Summit of 1969 in impor–
tance. At that conference, the door
was finally opened for British mem–
bership in the Community.
This time, the nine pledged them–
selves to achieve a "European
Union" by 1980, and to this end, set
out a series of ambitious deadline
dates for the remainder of the
decade. (See box.)
Even if sorne of the target dates
are rnissed,
The New York Times
glowingly editorialized, "The myr–
iad projects launched by the recent
sumrnit conference will make it ex–
tremely difficult for any member to
stop the clock in European in–
tegration."
As former Common Market
Commission President Walter
Hallstein once remarked , "In–
tegration is like a bicycle. You either
move on or you fall off." And the
Market is still moving - although
not nearly as rapidly as its rnost ar–
dent advocates would wish.
In the spirit of compromise, there
was a litt1e something for everybody
by the time the conference ad–
journed. France got the com–
mitment it sought for, launching, in
PLAIN TRUTH February 1973