FRANCE AGAINST EUROPE
SIR,—France against Europe indeed! If, as you say, France's external debts have to be paid, then the only country likely to do this is Germany in order to sustain her Common Market partner. So it seems she is economically at Germany's mercy. It is there- fore fanciful to suppose that Germany is unwillingly being led by her in opposition to the Free Trade' Area. The idea that we can get away with a Free Trade Area which is in no sense a union is farcical : and we are in fact using it -for our time-honoured practices of preventing Europe from uniting and' playing off France against Germany. It is. of course, Great Britain versus Etirope.
Surely there is 'provision in ()EEC and GATT for the function of customs unions. The fact that countries in an economic union do not extend the same conces- sions to countries outside the union is not discrimina- tion between countries outside the union.
In what way. may I ask, would removing a few feathers from the bed of British agriculture have helped? We have a much more open market for agricultural produce and are less featherbedded than the three most important countries in the Common Market. It is not the featherbedding of British agricul- ture that has made the Government anxious to exclude it, but that they wish to keep on running a cheap food policy which would not suit the Common Market countries, where there are large peasant populations which have to be protected.- -Yours la itb fully,
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