Page 1622 - 1970S

the top New York Times inter–
national writer, C. L. Sulzberger,
pul it: " ... no supranational spirit
dominates the slowly burgeoning
Europe.... there is nothing even
approaching a supergovernment
yet, something that could bind the
nine members to its decisions. The
habit of nationalism still runs strong
below the surface appearance of in–
temationalism."
Postponing the Controve rsia!
Although the various national
leaders professed in their final com–
muniqué that their goal of a "Euro–
pean Union" by the year 1980 was
"irreversible," they made no at–
tempt to define what the Europe of
the 1980's should look like. A re–
port, to be delivered in time for
their next summit in 1975 (or possi–
bly 1976) is intended to shed more
light on Europe's future structure.
In other words, for more details,
cometo the Summit of'75!
There are many knowledgeable
Europeans who are beginning to
doubt the whole rationale behind
the Common Market growth pro–
cess - this being that an ultimate
political union (without much of a
central political authority) can
somehow, almost magically, evolve
from the gradual merging of nine
separate economies. They believe
that ultimate union by 1980, or
whatever date, cannot be achieved
without squarely facing up to the
need for creating a central authority
strong enough to run the whole sys–
tem. They feel that the leaders of
the nine member states can no
longer afford to duck this crux issue,
endlessly shoving it off to future
committee reports.
Before the Paris Conference, I
talked to the former top banker of
Switzerland, Dr. Max Ikle. He is the
past president of the Swiss National
Bank. 1 asked Dr. Ikle, "What is
keeping the Common Market from
achieving a complete economic and
political union?"
"lt takes time," replied Dr. Ikle.
6
' 'You cannot just integrate and har–
monize the whole [separate] econo–
mies if you have no integration in
the political field."
"Does política! union, then, need
to come first?" 1 asked further.
"1 would say this. You can in–
tegrate the economies even further
than now. But then we come to the
point of a currency union, a mone–
tary union in Europe. In my opio–
ion, we will not ha ve a real
monetary union without a common
government. You cannot run a
money with nine central banks and
nine governments. You can run
them only with one central bank
and one government. To make a
monetary union, you bave to make
a política! union. Jt is not possible
with different governments and dif–
ferent economies, different infiation
rates, different financia! policies,
and so on, to run one currency.
" lt is just an illusion to tbink that
you can have a monetary union
without a political union. It is just
not possible."
What lt Will Take
Dr. Ikle, whose neutral Swiss na–
tion is not a member of the Com–
mon Market, is not the only one
who believes the economic cart can–
not pull the political horse.
Karl Klasen, president of the
West German Bundesbank, (Fed–
eral Bank) has expressed the opio–
ion that as things are going now, it
will take the rest of the century,
rather than the decade, to achieve a
full monetary union, let alone a po–
litical one. In bis view, the EC
countries are not yet prepared to
yield sufficient monetary control to
a central body.
Despite verbal professions of lofty
goals of (undefined) unity, Europe's
national political machinery is in–
capable of gradually creating a
supranational government higher
than itself.
Needed: A Crisis
lt appears now, more than ever,
that final union in Westem Europe
will only come about because of
dangers from the outside, threats to
Europe's unprecedented prosperity.
As the very "founding fatber" of tbe
Common Market, Jean Monnet ,
once remarked, necessity is the real
federator.
The necessity of forever pre–
venting another war between
France and Germany and the ne–
cessity of protecting Western free–
doro from Soviet pressures after
World War II provided the ímpetus
for postwar Westem European co–
operation and integration - first via
the European Coa! and Steel Com–
munity in 1951 and eventually the
Common Market in 1958.
But the decade of the sixties wit–
nessed a decline in unity fervor as
the Common Market, resting com–
fortably under the nuclear shield of
the United States, quietly and stead–
ily went about the business of mak–
ing money. Today, the Community
is by far the single largest trading
entity in the world.
What will it take to propel the
Community off dead center and
toward the road to total unity? The
British weekly, The Economist, in its
January 22, 1972 issue, provides a
clue:
"Only something truly shattering,
it seems, might quickly produce the
united Europe which in the late
1940's and early 1950's appeared
such a possible dream. Europe's na–
tions like being themselves too
much, and feel little compulsion to
be anything else...."
Trends to Watch
There are any one of a number of
trends developing in our rapidly
moving world which could force the
nations ofWestem Europe to forego
their petty nationalism and pull to–
gether in a common cause.
First of al/ is the intemational
monetary situation, and specifically,
the economic relationship between
the United States and Europe.
At the moment, there is a lull on
the international monetary front.
PLAIN TRUTH Februory 1973