Britain in the European Community [antikvár]

Introduction The British Government is wholeheartedly committed to membership of thô European Community and is pledged to play a füll and constructive rôle in its development. Recognising the shared links of history and geography binding the countries of Europe together and the need, in an increasingly interdependent world, to tackle common problems jointly, the Government sees membership as a means of stimulating further economic and political co-operation in Europe and of increasing the collective strength of member states in international economic negotiations. Moreover, it regards the Community as an important grouping of free démocratie nations, and in this connection welcomes the accession of Greece, and supports the membership applications of Spain and Portugal. In November 1980, during a visit to the European Commission (see p 11), the Queen said: 'Economically, the Community has made its mark in world production, trade and finance and as friend and helper of those countries which are still in the early stages of material development. Politically, the pooling of the traditions and experience in world affairs of separate nations has given an authority to their common policies and views which individually they could not have expected to wield. Both the Community and the world are the gainers from this/ Since the Community is one of the most powerful negotiating units in the world —accounting for about a third of world trade—the member states can exert greater influence in combination than acting separately. Britain regards this economic weight as being of vital importance in influencing the course of world political and economic negotiations, and in particular shares with its partners an interest in pre-venting any further slide into restrictive trading practices. Other benefits from con-certed economic action include the development of high technology, for example in the aerospace industry where the very high costs of research make it impracticable for each member state to have its own full-scale independent programme. Britain is committed to participation in projects like the nuclear fusion research programme at Culham and the manufacture of the European Airbus. On the external relations front, Britain attaches great importance to the coordination of member states' foreign policies and regards the present political co-operation arrangements as a major achievement. During 1980 common positions were adopted on such major issues as the Soviet Union's invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, the Arab-lsrael dispute in the Middle East, and the illegal holding of United States diplomats as hostages in Iran (see pp 58-9). The Government feels, nevertheless, that member states should attempt to find ways of co-operating more closely and of committing a greater part of their national diplomatie efforts to the furthering of common objectives. It has also made proposais designed to make the process of political co-operation more rapid and effective. As a major trading nation Britain is urging completion of the common market through the removal of the remaining barriers impeding the movement of goods, people and services between member states. The Government welcomes the opportunités given to British exporters through accessto a domestic market of 270 million people. Considérable shifts have taken place in British trade since 1973, the Community now being Britain's fastest growing export market. Between 1972 and 1979 the value of visible exports to the Community rose by 500 per cent, twice the increase for exports to the rest of the world. Some 43 per cent of visible exports go to the Community compared with 30 per cent before membership. Apart from Greece, ail Community countries are among Britain's top export markets, with the Fédéral Republic of Germany being the leading market. Moreover, in 1980 there was a 1