Page 898 - 1970S

Basic HTML Version

10
it - and in the end we wíll linish up
wíth whisky, tweeds and American
tourísts. This argument has undoubtedly
been sold very effectively to succeeding
Prime Ministers.
Q .
How great could the influence
of the Commoo Market become as a
third power bloc betweeo Russia aod
the United States?
A.
Oh, colossal ! You've got three hun–
dred twenty miliion people in Westero
Europe. Africa would be Europe's back–
yard, like South America is to the
United States. It would be 95% con–
trolled by Europe and you would have
Southern Afríca as a white outpost in
that continent as well. So together you
would have something like six, seven
hundred million people with all the re–
sources that they need in the way of oil,
minerals, etc. They would be completely
self-supportíng in temperate food, and
they would militarily become inevitably
an enormously powerful bloc.
Q.
Do you see the necessity for the
Common Market raisiog its owo
armies and becoming a great military
power?
A.
J
think this is an absolutely inevi–
table step for two reasons: One is that
the Uníted States will tend to pul! back
- ít's quite natural thirty years after the
war - and therefore the Western
European countríes must step in to fill
their own defenses. And, second, because
Britain and France are nuclear powers,
who together can become more than just
the sum of the two parts. Then with the
military and financia! support of Ger–
many, even though Germany wasn't
allowed to have any control over
nuclear weapons, they would have a
nuclear battery equivalent to that en–
joyed by the United States and Russía.
Q .
But if a11 you've said so far is
true, then wouldn't Britain
be
wise
to jump into Europe now before she's
forever left outside?
A.
The other side to ít though is: Do
we want to create a third great military
political bloc? 1 believe that the British,
by maintaining this independence which
is built into the country - this has
been the natural instinct of the nation
- while cooperating with the Common
Market, of course, on a whole host of
TIJe
PLAIN TRUTH
projects - amongst thcm Concorde,
atomic power for peaceful purposes and
so on - but while maintaining our
independence, we will lead the Market
to a better style of internatíonal organi–
zation than the one that is at prescnt
envisaged.
Q .
Would the stated política} ob–
jectives of the Common Market con–
flict
with cherished British ideals of
independence and sovereigoty?
A.
Oh, yes, they would. You see, to
prevent any one member of the Corn–
mon Market from welching on the
Ambouodor Coitos- Photo
James McMillan
others - l'm talking now of the major
members (the realíty is Britain, France
and Germany, the rest rnust follow) -
to prevent one of these welching on
agreed moves, agreed policies, you
would have to transfer power to the
Commission. The European Commission
of Bureaucrats would become, in effect,
the government, the voice, the spokes–
man of Europe.
Q .
What would happen to the
unique relationship between Britain
and the United States with Britain
in the Market?
A.
lt
would be finished! The Common
Market or European Economic Commu–
nity is a reaction to the American eco–
nomic strength, just as it is a reaction to
Soviet military strength. Nations don't
so rnuch act as react to other's actions,
and the Common Market, to have any
meaning, must be a political, economic,
and military bloc independent of the
United States - and in sorne cases,
OctObec
1971
even antagonistic to the United States -
although I belicve that there will be no
question of any conflict. But
in
sorne
economic fields, they will be antagonis–
tic. Therefore there can be no question
of Britaín's special relationship with the
United States being sustained in the
Common Market.
Q . In language and law, custom,
kinship, sentiment and shared experi–
ences, do the bonds of England stretch
across the Channel or across the
oceans?
A.
Oh, across the oceans every time.
Our entire national history has been
built across the oceans. The United
States is a projection of Britain. We
didn't lose the War of Independence. It
was a civil war, so how can you lose
that? America was built on an Anglo–
Saxon foundation . Canada is an Anglo–
Saxon foundation - with a large French
section of course. New Zealand and
Australia are Anglo-Saxon foundations
entircly. Southern Africa -
well,
you've got the Afrikaner there but also
a very big English and Scottish section.
All our connections are with the rest of
the world in sentiment and virtually
none are across the channel.
Q .
The United States helped Brit–
ain in two world wars, and in those
wars, Britain and Germany were in
opposite corners. There's no doubt
about who dominates Commoo Mar–
ket affairs today. Is Britain needed
inside the Community to balance
the growiog power of Germany in
Europe?
A.
This is a very good point, and this
is of course, the cruncb question. This is
what the Foreign Office says is neces–
sary. This is the balance of power which
has been an historie British conception
ever since the days of Elizabeth
J.
And
this is why the French are inviting us in
now - they realize that Germany
is
too
strong economically to be held by
France. Therefore she needs Britain to
balance her up. And 1 believe that that
is the argument which is prevailing in
official circles in Whitehall.
Q .
In the past fifty years, democ–
racy in France, Germany, aod Italy,
has disappeared and surfaced agaio.
Do you see a possibility of that
(Contimted on page 13)