Pompidou's Grenade

It was Georges Pompidou who ended France's decade-long opposition to British membership in the Common Market. Last week the French President unexpectedly--and presumably unintentionally--threw a grenade in Britain's path to Brussels. At the end of an Elysee Palace press conference, Pompidou announced that he would call a national referendum in late April on the treaties admitting Britain, Ireland, Norway and Denmark to the six-nation Market. The French people, he explained, should be allowed to "express their opinion directly on this new policy of a new Europe."

There were domestic political considerations behind Pompidou's proposal, but its major impact was in Britain. Most notably, it put a new weapon in the hands of Britain's antiMarket politicians, who have been trying to force Tory Prime Minister Edward Heath to put the issue before the British public in just such a referendum. In Parliament, one group of antiMarket M.P.s in Heath's own party tabled a motion hailing Pompidou's "fundamentally democratic decision."

Molding a Mandate. Pompidou rather inexplicably failed to give Heath advance notice of the Elysee announcement, even though he was to join him two days later for a long-planned weekend at Chequers. Heath clearly is not about to call for a referendum--especially since a Harris Poll last week rated British public support for entry at 36%, down from 42% last January. Despite the uncertainty of popular feelings, the Prime Minister intends to keep the entry issue confined to Parliament, where he has a fluctuating but seemingly safe pro-Market majority.

Why had Pompidou opted for a referendum? The Market treaties would have sailed through the French Assembly easily enough, but Pompidou evidently wanted to use the referendum --as Charles de Gaulle often did--as a device for molding and increasing his own political mandate. The Communists, who normally carry 20% of the national vote, will almost certainly say no to the treaties. But other segments of the anti-Gaullist opposition will be in a bind. Because they are already on record as favoring Common Market expansion, centrists and socialists may have to swallow their anti-Pompidou animus and vote yes.

As a result, Pompidou is almost assured of a victory that he can flaunt as a strong vote of personal confidence. That will be a valuable asset if, as many observers expect, Pompidou hopes to carve out for himself a role as primus inter pares next October when the ten leaders of the "new Europe" hold their first summit meeting in Paris.

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