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advance
news
in the wake of today's WORLD EVENTS
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Reviva! of ''Ciassic Europe
11
"The most important thing happening on the world
stage right now is the subtle, gradual reviva! of dassic
Europe as a power center.... Every diplomat and statesman
the world around understands and feels the rising importance
of Europe in all their calculations."
So writes long-time international relatioos expert Joseph
C.
Harsch of
The Christian Scíence Monitor.
The two-power world of the United States and the
Soviet Union is no more. Peking's break with Moscow made
it a three-power world. The fourth power- Europe - is a
power still in the making, not yet federated, not yet
politically complete.
This is why so few grasp the impact of what is
happening in Wcstern Europe.
"There ncver will be a specific moment when the
headlines will declare the reviva! of dassic Europe," says
Harsch. By "classic Europe" is meant, basically, the confines
of the old Holy Roman Empire.
"There will never be a specific moment for such head–
Jines because the process of European reviva! is so quiet, so
gradual, and happening
by
such fragmentary acts and actions
that one will never know cxactJy when it happened, or how
far the process has gone."
Within the Common Market the subtle, steady pull
toward economic unity continues unabated, virtuaUy unno–
ticed.
A very significant development in the Common Market
business world occurred on October 15. France's second aod
Germany's third largest banks announced a plan to co-ordi–
nate their financia!, technical and managerial services. The
union, to
be
the fifth strongest banking force in the world,
will be just short of a full-fledged merger.
Across-the-border mergers remain a big obstacle. Until
they are made possible, European companies will not be able
to meet the stiff challenge of American business on European
soil. In an attempt to correct this situation, the Common Mar–
ket Commission has proposed a new European law to allow
corporations to form or merge on a Community-wide basis.
Many other regulations dealing with vital, but to out–
siders seemingly mundane matters, have lately been imple–
mented or proposed. They include a "common fish market,"
common control over imports of tobacco, flax, and hemp,
common regulation of animal feed inspection, international
automobile tnsurance, drivers' licenses, tourism and pollution
control.
In the field of education, the Commission has suggested
that curricula and diplomas should be harmonized, a "Euro–
pean diploma" be established for universities and "trans–
national universities" be founded.
The cnd result, as always, remains política! unity. In
fact,
it
is becoming
very
apparent that an economic union
could not long survivc without a political union. Reports the
leading West German daíly,
Die W e/t:
"A currency uníon
presupposes the existence of an economic union, however,
and both need a political authority as a safeguard."
As a starting point, the foreígn ministers of the Six
have begun regular consultations on political cooperation -
including the co-ordination of foreign policy and defense.
Continue to watch the continued emergence- behind
the scenes - of "classic Europe."
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Coming Soon - New European Money
A
NEW
cornmon European currency- to
be
symbolized
by an E crossed
by
a diagonal line - is nearing rcality.
The
European Common Market Commission has already
announced the first loan to
be
issued in the new denomina–
tion, which, paradoxically, is not planned to be in actual
circulation until later in the decade. The loan, to be issued by
the sister European Coal and Steel Community, will be paid
back in 20 years, considered more than sufficient time for the
new unit to be in operation.
Behind the accelerating drive towards Europe's economic
unity - and independence - is the continued malaise of the
U. S. dollar.
The overburdened dollar is the major reserve currency of
over half the world. But America's chronic inflation and bal–
ance-of-payments deficits, plus shrinking gold reserves, have
undermioed confidence in the once-mighty dollar. French
Finance Minister Valéry Giscard d'Estaing compared the
world's dependence on the dollar to the act of setting a watch
"by a dock that is out of order."
Establishment in Europe of a second major currency
could divide the international monetary system into two com–
peting blocs - a dollar group and a "Euromark group" –
or whatever the new unit míght be caJJed.
Under the so-called "Werner Plan," expected to
be
approved by the EEC Council of Ministers, the creation of