The Cost of Union

It was late afternoon when Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and his lady drove into the neatly trimmed country estate outside Paris. There the Charles de Gaulles awaited their weekend guests on the steps of the Chateau de Champs, the magnificently paneled onetime home of Madame Pompadour. It has become Macmillan's custom to make contact with France's haughty leader at least once a year. But this time it was especially important for the two statesmen to have their leisurely hours together in the French countryside, for Europe is moving into decisive times; bargains made, friendships hardened, grievances dissolved could have an impact on the world's future for decades to come.

Swap Denied. Macmillan, who used to see himself in the role of "honest broker" between East and West, now was closer to acting as broker between West and West. There were many familiar items of disagreement within the Western Alliance--De Gaulle's desire for a loose European federation (Macmillan in agreement) and the U.S.-British desire to negotiate a Berlin settlement (De Gaulle opposed). As for nuclear weapons and France's determination to build its powerful independent force de frappe, there was--officially-- little that the Prime Minister could say; Macmillan earlier had flatly denied any intention of offering to swap nuclear aid for France's cooperation in easing Britain's Common Market membership. It was, after all, the U.S. that insisted on refusing to France scientific secrets that might speed De Gaulle's nuclear plans.

Clearly, the Common Market was uppermost in Harold Macmillan's mind. What price must Britain pay to enter Europe? The step now seemed inevitable, but at fearsome risk to Britain's Commonwealth ties. Charles de Gaulle fears the influence of the U.S.-British alliance in Europe; does he so savor the vision of France as No. 1 nation on the Continent that he would actively try to keep Britain out forever?

Seven Veils. The answers might soon show up in Brussels, where another round had begun in the negotiations on Britain's Common Market membership. As De Gaulle and Macmillan met, the mood in Brussels was distinctly--though perhaps only temporarily--improved. As the proceedings began, Britain's Lord Privy Seal Edward Heath set the tone. "Well, shall we begin the Dance of the Seven Veils?" he cracked in a reference to seven complicated problems that must be resolved for British membership.

One veil came off with the parley's first agreement on a specific hurdle: Britain proposed to abandon Commonwealth preferential tariffs on a list of 400 manufactured goods it normally imports from Canada, New Zealand and Australia. In a mild spirit of compromise, the Europeans agreed to apply the tariff cuts in slow stages, postpone the final cutoff date until 1970. So far as the Common Market Six were concerned, it was a small first step, but experts now detected a new suppleness in the hitherto stiff French position. Delighted at the way things were going, Ted Heath tentatively declared that the step "has undoubtedly improved the atmosphere."

But the other veils remained--particularly the agricultural problem, of much greater importance than that of minor manufactured goods. Commonwealth exporters of farm products are utterly dependent on low or nonexistent British tariffs. Already two key Commonwealth leaders, Australia's Prime Minister Robert Menzies and New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister John R. Marshall, were on the scene in Europe to register their protests. Even the week's agreement on industrial goods, they declared solemnly, was a "disturbing development." The tone of their statement was warning enough of the profound strain to Commonwealth ties that would follow a British cave-in on farm goods.

Desperately, Heath sought a promise from the Six that Commonwealth farmers would be assured of "comparable outlets" for their goods if they lose their preferential British treatment. Europe's tentative answer: No. Under pressure from French farmers, De Gaulle's delegates would hardly agree to give Britain's partners a free ride in France's European markets.

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