Beginning in Sight
From JOHN LAMBERT
BRUSSELS
LIKE all other creative occupations, in con- struction estropeome, of which the Brussels negotiations are the latest variant, is most likely to be successful if the materials are well pre- pared beforehand. The impressive unhewn block of problems which Mr. Heath set before his colleagues nearly six months ago in Paris has now been hewn to lumps of a more manageable size, each neatly labelled ('nil tariffs,' or 'Com- monwealth manufactures,' or 'guarantees for farmers'). Some of these have still some very jagged edges, but at least they have been weighed and measured and analysed and the difficulties they present discussed. Now the seven builders have to .see whether from this heap of problems something like an agreement can be built.
So when the Ministers met last week for the fifth of their amicable sessions, they ordered from the negotiators a very substantial Easter egg, in the form of an overall report on all the work they have done to date. It should set out the scope and importance of the problems which the British candidature poses, and recall in clear terms the views that have been expressed, by the British on one side and the Six, unanimously or separately, on the other, about the best way to work out solutions. After Easter the govern- ments will have just over two weeks to peruse the report on Stage I (Problems) before the Ministers meet again, on May 8 and 9, to plan and set in Motion Stage II (Solutions). The state of the Brussels negotiations can be summed up in one phrase: the beginning is in sight.
Before the 'state of play' report can be com- pleted, however, the Committee of Deputies, those tireless and versatile pillars of the negotia- tions, have to round off their talks on agriculture. For the last month in fact, for two or more days a week, they have talked of very little else : first a general discussion about the major problems, then a product-by-product survey to see which problems were serious for which products; and now a further look at the toughest problems. By all accounts, and not at all unexpectedly, these concern 'comparable outlets' for Commonwealth farm products (above all soft wheat and meat) and guarantees for farmers' incomes (is the system agreed by the Six an adequate guarantee for British farmers, or must it be supple- mented?). That done, and in order not to be idle, the negotiators will look at the few more important problems arising over applying to Britain the terms of the Rome Treaty • and the rules for its implementation, in the monetary sphere in particular.
From April to June, the Italians will be in the chair, Mr. Heath having again declined the honour (suggesting optimistically that in the following quarter he too might be able to combine, as the Germans and French have done, and the Italians will do, the chairmanship and the role of spokesman for the member countries). Undoubtedly the coming months will see the tempo rising. The most optimistic estimate to be heard in Brussels is that May and June could see the technical work on solutions largely completed—with agreement on the non- controversial points—leaving the Ministers to devote themselves in July to an intensive and hardly interrupted bout of political bargaining. Others less optimistic (more realistic? or just more sceptical about such advance without hitches?) see the experts at work till the summer recess, a pause for reflection, for Commonwealth consultation or for diplomatic contacts, and the 'crunch' in the autumn only. For some time yet all prophecy is premature; and, hardly dis- tinguishable yet never quite dispersed, there hangs upon the horizon the cloud which might loom at any time to set both plans and prophecies awry. Can anyone (even perhaps the French negotiators, whose skill and good faith are not in the least in doubt) be sure that le General, when he has time to turn his thoughts to Brussels, will really want the British in . . . or what his terms will be?
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