Europeanunityoverthenexttenyears:from

Communityto union:
EDWARD HEATHt

of the Lothian Foundationin 1987 is an

The interestshown in the establishment
indicationof the immenseinterestin the United Kingdom in the futureof the
European Community.Lord Lothianhad a charismaticeffecton my generationat
whetherwe were Conservatives,like
Oxfordin thelate 1930s and on our thinking,
myself,or whetherwe belongedto anotherpoliticalparty.We owe hima greatdebtfor
his contributionsto the developmentof the European Communityand to the
developmentof thoughtin the Community.
I believethatthetimehas comewhena numberofthingsneedto be saidveryplainly
about the futureof the United Kingdomin the Community,in the world and, in
particular,aboutthepartwhichwe mustplayin theCommunity.But Lord Lothian's
andI wouldliketo saya wordon thisfirst.I
nameis alwaysassociatedwithfederalism,
do not believe it is very productiveto spend time arguingabout federalismor
Firstof all, thereare manydifferent
definitions
of federalism.And
non-federalism.
on the real
secondly, this kind of argumentcan preventus fromconcentrating
problems which face us in the Communityat this moment. That may not be
considereda reasonwhywe shouldnotpledgeourselvesto one sideor theotherofthe
as an institution
sui
argument.ButtheCommunitywas createdbythefoundingfathers
likeitbeforein theworld,and thereis nothing
generis.Therehas neverbeenanything
likeit now in theworld. Othergroupsof countriesthathavefoundtheneed to come
togetherhave not been able to emulate what we have done in the European
Community.So it has developed sui generisand the final formof its political
organizationwill be sui generis.For thisreasonwe are not usingour timeto thebest
purpose if we concentrateour argumentaround federalism.What we should
forms.
concentrateon is makinga successof the Communityin all its different

Theapproachtopoliticalunity
I believethatthe Communityshould develop a formof unifiedgovernment
thatis
I
talked
to
Heinrich
von
Brentano
about
this
in
the
late
1950s
suitedto itsown needs.
whenhe was ForeignSecretaryof theFederalRepublicof Germanyand he said that,
when we startedon thispath with the formationof the European Coal and Steel
Communityin 1951,he had in minda pictureof a politicalcommunitybeingformed
fora new treaty.But thenhe
advisersworkingout theframework
by constitutional
This is thetextoftheInauguralLothianMemorialLecture,givenon 3 Nov. 1987at ChathamHouse
and sponsoredby the Lothian Foundation.The Foundationwas establishedin the summerof 1987 to
thelifeand workofPhilipLothian,1882-1940,and to promotebetterrelationsbetweenthe
commemorate
the
peoples oftheEuropeanCommunityand betweentheEC and thepeoplesofothernations,particularly
United States.
t The Rt Hon. Edward Heath MP was BritishPrimeMinister1970-4.
Affairs
0020-5850/88/2/0199-09
$3.00 (C 1988International

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changedhisviewand cameto doubtwhetherthepurposesoftheCommunitycould be

achievedin thatway. I, too, thoughtthetimewould comewhenwe would sendforall
forthepoliticalfederalism
thelegaladvisersand say,'Now giveus a constitution
ofthe
Community'. But I now realize, as did von Brentano, that we will develop
and year by yearprogresstowardsour own formof unity.Afterten
pragmatically
yearswe willsendforthelegaladvisersandsay,'Sitdownandtellus wherewe havegot
to', and by thetimetheytellus we shallhavegotsomewhereelse. That,I think,is the
approachtowardspoliticalunitywhichis essentialforthefutureoftheCommunity.
In October 1972 we heldthefirstsummitmeetingof theHeads of Governmentof
theCommunity.Britainhad signedtheTreatyofRome, togetherwithDenmarkand
theRepublicof Ireland,butwe had notyetenteredintotheCommunity.The summit
was at theinvitationof PresidentPompidou. Whenit was announceda considerable
numberof devoutEuropeanssaid, 'What are you up to? You have no rightto call a
summitof Heads of Government.You are not in the Treaties. The Council of
Ministersis, the Commissionis, theEuropeanCourt is. All thesebodies are in the
Treatiesbut Heads of Governmentaren't.You don't exist,and therefore
you can't
have a conference.'
This was a verylogicalargument.ButPresidentPompidoudid notallow himselfto
be overruledby logic. He said thatwe weregoingaheadin practiceto havea summit,
and we did. And I would liketo commendto thoseofyou who havenotalreadygotit
by your bedsidethecommuniquethatwe issuedat theend of thatsummit.It is the
finestcommunique of modern times. The firsthalf was writtenby President
Pompidou in his own hand. The secondhalfdealtwiththefutureof theCommunity
and settleditup to 1980.And by 1980we plannedto havehad thecompleteabolitionof
all internalrestrictionsas well as establishinga common tariffand a common
a centralbankand all the
agricultural
policy.We would havehad a commoncurrency,
otheraspectsof a unifiedcommunity-by1980.
It is a tragedythatthatdidnotcomeabout.The reasonis obvious.Aftertheoil crisis
of 1973-4 the Communitylost its momentumand, what was worse, lost the
philosophyofJeanMonnet:thattheCommunityexiststo findcommonsolutionsto
common problems. Each membertriedto finda solutionto unemploymentand
thatthereis no solutionifwe acton our
inflationon itsown and had to learnpainfully
own. And so perhapswe are comingback to theoriginalphilosophyof community
action.
But at the end of our discussionssomebody suggestedthat at the end of the
communiquewe oughtto putin whenwe weregoingto meetagain.We thoughtthis
was a good idea, so we all agreedto meetin October1980to celebratetheachievement
of whatwas setout in thecommunique.Then a rathermorecarefulmemberpointed
out that1980was eightyearsawayand we mighthaveto adjustcoursebeforethen.So
we put thatwe would meetin October 1976. That was a developmentof its own,
withoutbeingin theTreaties,withoutbeinghotlydisputedin theparliaments
of the
Community.We had alreadyestablishedtheEuropeanCouncil and it was goingto
meet again.
metonlya yearlaterinDecember
Of course,in actualfacttheHeads ofGovernment
in
oil
met
of
the
crisis.
We
1973 because
Copenhagenon 14-15 Decemberat whatwas
summit
of
all
modern
the
worst
quite
meetings,and the resultwas calamitousfor
It
was
to
be
a veryinformalgathering
in whichwe could
almosteverybody.
originally
In
ourselves.
the
event
it
was
wrecked
the
factthatthesix
exchangeviewsbetween
by
of
the
countries
announced
that
foreignministers
oil-producing
theywere goingto

EdwardHeath

201

inCopenhagen.
Wetherefore
takepartintheconference.
Theydulyarrived
spentthe
morningof 14 Decemberdecidingwhetheror not we shouldmeetthem.By
wehaddecidedthatwewouldmeetthemandthatitwouldbetheForeign
lunch-time
whattheForeign
Ministers
whowouldmeetthem.Wespenttheafternoon
discussing
Ministers
shouldsayto themandby6 p.m.itwasagreedthattheForeignMinisters
The nextmorning
we metwithnineverytired
wouldonlylistenand saynothing.
Ministers
hadn'tarrived
becausetheirForeign
until2 a.m.andhad
ForeignMinisters
keptourstalking
untilbreakfast.
Bythattimetheworld'spresshadarrived
andso we
at veryshortnoticeof coursebecausethatwasn'ttheirjob, to
askedour officials,
producea communique.
Whereupon
theyallwrotedowntheviewsoftheircountries
andwewerefacedwiththistoapproveas a
on everysubject,
pinnedthemalltogether
was disastrous.
As a resulttheconference
Butwe diddecidethatwe
communique.
wouldthenhaveto meetthreetimesa year.Andso whatwe didwasto establish
an
orinstitution,
whichmettheneedsofthetimeintheformoftheHeads
organization,
The EuropeanCouncilnow meetstwicea yearand is a
of Government
meeting.
oftheCommunity.
Andthis,I believe,is thewayin
institution
andaccepted
regular
to developin thefuture.
whichwe shallcontinue
Thepoliticalpurpose
Whatthenabouttheconditions
in whichwe develop?I sometimes
haveto remind
myselfthatfewpeopleundertheage of 60 haveanydirectrecollection
of what
inthecreation
happened
oftheCoal andSteelCommunity.
Andwhatisso constantly
isthatthecreation
forgotten
ofoftheCoal andSteelCommunity
wasa political
actfor
a politicalpurpose,and thatthe communities
are politicalinstitutions
which
themselves
existfora political
purpose,a purposewhichremains
political.
Thismust
alwaysbe theunderlying
themeoftheCommunity
inEurope.Thepolitical
purpose
wastoprevent
FranceandGermany
everfighting
again.It wasputintooperation
by
useofsupranational
making
powertocontrol
therawmaterials
oftheweaponsofwar,
to prevent
themeverbeingableto armthemselves
individually
again.Thatwas the
outbyeconomic
means.Therefore
purpose,carried
whatwearedoingintheeconomic
and it is thiswhichrequires
sphereis in factthemeansto politicaldevelopment,
to be brought
hometo people.
constantly
The founding
fathers
werereallyverywisewhentheycreated
theCommunity
sui
generis.But thereis one thingtheyomitted.Thereis no one who speaksforthe
as a whole.You canhavemeeting
Community
after
andyoumayevenreach
meeting
an agreement.
Butas soon as thePrimeMinisters
or theForeignSecretaries
or the
Ministers
ofAgriculture
ortheFinanceMinisters
getbackto theirparliaments,
what
do theydo?Theyproclaim,
'LookhowI bashedtheothers!
LookwhatI didtothem!
Aren'tyouproudofthefactthatwehaveblockedtheminsomething
orotherandwe
ourselvesrefusedto takepartin something
else!' That isn'tthepurposeof the
Nor is it an attitude
we can tolerateanylongerin our own British
Community.
ThepurposeoftheCommunity
is tooperatetogether
government.
as a community.
And thatmeansthateverysettlement
hasgotto be brought
aboutby consensus
to
whicheachmember
makesa contribution
andfromwhicheachgainsa benefit.
To holduptheprogress
oftheCommunity
is,inmyview,completely
unjustifiable.
inBritain.
Butthatapproachhashada lotofsupport
It is something
fromwhichwe
havebeensuffering
eversincethebeginning
of1963.WhenGeneralde Gaullevetoed
our entryinJanuary
he
did
more
than
1963,
stopBritain
joiningtheCommunity.

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Many of theBritishtook theattitudethatiftheEuropeansdidn'twantus theyjolly

well weren'tgoingto getus. We overcamethat,and sincethenwe havewon thebattle
to remainin theCommunity.The Labour Party,formerly
opposed to membership,
has in itspolicy at any rateagreedthatBritainis now permanently
a memberof the
European Community.But we stillhave to recreatethe burningenthusiasmthat
existedat thebeginningofthe1960sforall ofus to playa fullpartwithour colleagues
and partnersin the Communityas a whole. That is why I want to emphasizeso
stronglythe political aspect of the Communityand how that leads to political
developmentin whichall thecountriesworktogetherforunity.And that,of course,
involvesinstitutions.
The importanceofeconomicunification
I thinkthathistoryshows thatwhen economicpowerdevelops,politicalpower has
to developwithit. This is notsomethingwhichaffects
ultimately
onlyus. Today it is
theChinese,who aregoingto findita problemthattheyaredevelopingtheir
affecting
arenot
economyfairlyquicklywhileto manyitappearsthattheirpoliticalinstitutions
developingwiththesamerapidity.It maybe thattheywillcope withthis,and I hope
theywill. Similarly,in theUnitedStatestodaywe see thateconomicpoweris moving,
in my view unalterably,to the west coast: to Oregon for high technology,to
California,to Texas and to Arizona. It is leavingtheold industrialcitiesand moving
westand south.And withit,inevitably,
goespoliticalpower.Thatwe alreadysee inthe
who came from
in Washingtontoday. The east coast establishment,
administration
Europe verylargely,who had friendsand relativesin Europe, who spoke European
languagesand who understoodus, is in decline.And, unlessthereis a changein the
we haveto
economicpowerbase,whichI don'tbelievetherewillbe, thisis something
take accountof as a permanenthappening.1

market
Theinternal
So we mustinevitablyfaceup to thepoliticalimplicationsof thedevelopmentof the
economicsideoftheCommunity.WiththeSingleEuropeanActwe havenow gotthe
Treatyamendedto authorizean institution-theCouncil of Ministers-whichwill
in theCommunityby 1992.We havegotto havethe
abolishall theinternalrestrictions
whenI listenedata conference
nearSalzburg
willpowerto enforcethat.I was horrified
in August 1987 to Commissionmembersand otherssayinghow theyhopedthatby
Thatis notgood enough.We have
1992we shouldhavecarriedout our undertakings.
got to have the will to say thatthisis goingto be done by 1992. That is how the
Communitymade progressin thepast. Thatis whathappenedinJanuary1962when
negotiationsbeganon theCommon Agricultural
Policy: theclockwas stoppeduntil
oftheCAP. Thatis theattitudethathas got
thoseministers
agreedon thefundamentals
in theCommunity,and particularly
to be takenabout futuredevelopments
aboutthe
Communityin 1992. The willpowerhas gotto be shownand eachofus, whateverour
particularviews at the momentabout federalism,has got to work to ensurethat
and is put into practice.
willpoweris demonstrated
1. The presidentialcandidatesnow emergingin the United Statesmay appearto signala haltto this
inNov. 1988,and itspoliticalinfluence
trend;butCaliforniawillcontinueto be thechiefbattleground
will
continueto grow.

EdwardHeath

203

Themonetary
system
The samethingappliesto themonetarysystemandto EuropeanMonetaryUnion and
theECU. The EuropeanMonetarySystem(EMS) haswithstoodmanyshockssinceits
creation,includingtheworldshockofOctober 1987whichithaswithstoodfarbetter
in notplayingour full
thanothercurrencies.We in Britainarecompletelyunjustified
in
the
EMS.
It
is
an
for
Britain
and
we
part
impossibleposition
oughtto be ashamedof
it, because we cannot expect othercountriesto take any notice of our views on
so longas we arenotpreparedto takeourfullshare
monetaryor eveneconomicaffairs
of theresponsibilities
in theEMS. How can we expecttheGermans,or theGerman
we say about
banks,or theGermanFinanceMinisters,to takeanynoticeofanything
to takeanynoticeof whatwe
theirlevelof interestrates,or theGermangovernment
say about agriculturalpolicy, when we are not preparedto take a fullpart in the
monetarysystemof Europe as a whole?Thereis no reasonwhytheyshouldtakeany
to thinkthatwe can exerciseinfluenceinside
noticeof us. It is completelyunrealistic
in it. This I
the Communityifwe are notpreparedto acceptour fullresponsibilities
and theBritishgovernment
mustbe broughtto
believeto be absolutelyfundamental
changeits attitudeand view on thesethings.
The UnitedKingdomhas spent,and stillis spending,fartoo muchtimeand energy
in the Communityinsistingon comparativelyminor changes to the budget and
of so manyotherthingswhichrequireto be done
budgetarysystem,to thedetriment
the developmentof technology-in the Communityas a
urgently-particularly
has againrefusedto makean increasein
whole. The factthattheBritishgovernment
spacedevelopmentis anothermarkagainstus in theeyesoftherestoftheCommunity,
These arethingsin whichwe must
as well as beingagainstour own nationalinterests.
recognizethe interestsof the Communityas a whole.

A central
bank
Again, theEMS mustbe followedby a centralbankingarrangement.
We cannotbe
expectedto play a prominentpartin thatifwe are not a fullmemberof theEMS. I
suggestedthis as long ago as 1973, when on 1-2 March I had the meetingwith
ChancellorBrandtwhichcoincidedwiththedollarcrisisof thatspring.I remember
verywell thatthe Chancellorhad to decide with his cabinetwhat to do about it.
was pouringintotheDeutschmarkand he thoughthe couldn'tstandit. I
Everything
told him he should go on and thathe could standit perfectly
well, and when the
speculatorsgot theirfingersburntwe shouldgettenyearsof peace and quiet on the
currencymarkets.But theChancellorwas unableto persuadehis cabinet,so I made a
ratheremotionalspeechatdinnerinwhichI saidthatiftheGermanswerenotprepared
to taketheburdentheonlythingwas forus allto pool ourreservesandto havea central
bankingsystemand to establishthisstraight
away. I said thatwe would supporthim
and thenwe shouldbe able to musterall our resourcesto fightthespeculation.I was
afterwards
congratulated
by everyonepresent,includingmy PrivateSecretary,who
sentbacka longcableto myofficeand theTreasury.The nextday I gota
immediately
messageback fromthe Chancellorof the Exchequersayinghe thoughtthiswas a
splendididea-it was veryimaginative,
showed greatvisionand he only wantedto
pointout two things:ofcoursehe was in favourofpoolingthereservesofthemember
countriesbut he just wantedto remindme thatat thatmomentwe didn'thave any
reservesand, secondly,his officials
wantedto knowwhere,iftherewas goingto be a
centralbankingsystem,the bank was goingto be situated.

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We stillhave a long way to go beforewe getto a commoncurrencyand a central

bank. But I believethattheyare essential.
Publicprocurement
Anotherspherein whichwe oughtto act,and one whichis notcoveredby theSingle
The expenditure
on publicprocurement
EuropeanAct, is publicprocurement.
in the
Communityis a vastsum.We oughtto havefreedomofaccessand competition
justas
muchas in therestof theeconomy.This has notbeenfacedby theEuropeanCouncil
nor theCouncil ofMinisters,noryet,I think,by theCommission.It is a further
step
theeconomyoftheCommunityas a whole.
whichI thinkwe oughtto takeinunifying
Europe in theworldeconomy
are concernedand thencome
I wantto put thisintocontextas faras economicaffairs
back to ourpoliticalarrangements.
Nobody canbe verydogmaticaboutwhatis going
to happenin theworldeconomyfollowingthecrashofOctober1987. I myselfsuspect
thatit is goingto be a long timebeforeconfidenceis restoredand beforewe beginto
make a recovery,and I thinkthatduringthattimetheworld economymaywell get
is goingto reston us as a EuropeanCommunityto
worse. More and more,therefore,
ensureour own economicstability.Whenwe look at theUnitedStateswe see thatits
weakerand moreexposedbecauseofthevast
economyhas beengettingprogressively
tradedeficit.Thereis reallyverylittlesignthat
budgetdeficitand the ever-growing
practicalresultsare going to be achievedin eitherof theseareas in the immediate
future.Thereforein the eyes of those now on Wall Streetand on the exchanges
itwillbe seento remainprecarious,and
generallywho look at thepositionrealistically
in thesecircumstances
we shall findconfidenceremainingundermined.
The UnitedStates
We oughtalso to recognizethatwe in Britain,in thepolicywe havebeenpursuingof
remainingoutside the EMS and tryingto run our own monetarypolicy, have had
absolutelyno influenceon the United States.We could only have had any hope of
theUnitedStatesifwe haddone so as a unitedCommunity.Thisis a failure
influencing
on our part,and it needsto be said verybluntly.Britisheconomicpolicyhas had no
impacton Americanfinancialpolicy,monetarypolicy,budgetarypolicy or trading
policyofanykindwhatever.It is a lessonwe mustlearnanditpointsto thefactthatwe
in Europe mustbecome moreand more unitedeconomically.
Japan
The next thingis the impactof Japan. The Communitywas createdout of the
destructionof war and for25 yearswe made a veryremarkablerecovery,and full
to it. Butthenwe tailedoff.Japanwas in
tributemustbe paid to thosewho contributed
an evenworseposition.Fortyyearsago itwas nearlydestroyed.Twentyyearsago it
was the second largestborrowerfromthe World Bank. Today, as a resultof its
to theWorldBank.Japanis
economicsuccess,Japanis thesecondlargestcontributor
now the primaryeconomicunitin the world. Last yearit was announcedthatper
capita income in Japanis now above thatof the United States.

EdwardHeath

205

butit is also an exampleof a performance

which
This is a remarkableperformance,
has maintainedits momentum.Japanesetechnologicaldevelopmentis no longer
imitativebut creative.Japan'sworkingpopulationis highlyskilledand well able to
benefitfromtechnologicalresearch.So inJapanwe see a fiercecompetitor
throughout
meetthatcompetition
theworld,and ofcourseinourown Europe. We musttherefore
(as must the United States). I don't believethatthereis any point in continually
abouttheJapanese.Theyowe itto themselves
thattheyhavemadesucha
belly-aching
recovery.It is true,as PrimeMinisterNakasone once said, perhapsa littleunwisely,
thattheJapanesearean ethnicunityand thisgivestheman immenseadvantage.We in
butmustrecognizethattheirachievements
have
Europe arenotan ethniccommunity,
been broughtabout by workingthroughconsensus,as indeed have most of West
Germany'sachievements.That is theonly way you can in factcope witha modern
economy.

EastAsia
Suchis thechallenge.Butthechallengeis evengreaterthanthat.Thereis another,very
powerfulreason-looking intothefuture,further
thanthenexttenyears-why the
European Communitymustbringabout theunifiedeconomicdevelopmentwhichis
so essential.I said thattheChineseareexpandingtheireconomyat a remarkablerate.
Twenty-fiveper cent of all China's activityis connectedwith Japan and that
proportionis increasing.We in Europe have not yet taken full advantageof the
and neitherhavetheAmericans.So whatwe aregoingto see fortherest
opportunities,
of the twentiethcenturyand, I believe,well into the nextis a combinationof the
technologyand inventiveness
of theJapaneseand theirsalesdrive,whichis based on
thefactthatso manyoftheirworkershavecontracts
forlife,so thatto selland sellis the
only way availableto keep unitcosts down in a recession.And thatsales drivecan
combine with all the Chinese raw materialsand a Chinese labour forcewhich is
becomingmore and more skilledin schools and universitiesand is drawn froma
populationwhichbytheyear2050 willbe 1.5 billion.Thatis a formidable
challengein
technology,raw materials,skilledlabour forceand sales drive. Those thingsput
togetherare goingto give us the most difficult
taskwe have everhad.
Europe's response
I come backto Europe in thefaceofthesedevelopments
becauseI thinkthattheymay
bringus up againstrealityin thesamewaythattheimmediatepostwarperioddid. The
presentcrisis,fromwhichpeople can see no easy way out, may bringus up against
reality.CertainlyiftheUnitedStatesdid havea Presidentanda Congresswho decided
to bringdown the budgetdeficit,thatwould have a verysterneffecton the world
in theAmericanbalanceof trade.The successful
economy,as would any redressing
countriesof the Pacificmay bringus up againstreality.The factthatin the Islamic
world we now have some 800 millionpeople becomingmore and more militant
Muslimsmaybringus up againstreality.And we in Europe willthenhaveto facethe
factthatwe haveonlygota futureifwe moverapidly,notonlytowardstheeconomic
unityI have been discussingbut also towardspoliticaland militaryunity.

andforeign
Military
policydevelopment
Why does Europe appearto therestof theworldto have lost its confidenceand its
momentum?It is because they know that we are not politicallyor militarily

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independent.That is thebasic reasonfortheloss of confidencein Europe. We know

thatwe are not equal alliesin thealliancewiththeUnitedStates.We know thatnot
andpoliticallywe havehad no effect
on
onlyeconomically,butall too oftenmilitarily
on theUnitedStates.
them.CertainlytheUnitedKingdomon itsown hashadno effect
We knowinsideourselves,throughout
Europe,thatwe arenevergoingto be our true
selvesand developour truecultureagainunlesswe have an independenceof foreign
and military
policy.WhatI am sayingis a majordeclarationoffaithbutitis also rather
to tryand bringchangeabout and a hope that
more thanthat:it is a determination
willforceus once againto facerealityas we had to do in the
developingcircumstances
immediatepostwaryearsand in theearly1950swhentheCommunitieswerecreated.
If thatcan be broughtabout, thentheseunwantedeventswill certainlyhave done
Europe a good turn.
I havedescribedhow I thinktheunityoftheCommunitycan be broughtabout. On
foreignpolicywe havemadesomestepsforward.We havea declarationoccasionally:
one on CentralAmericawhichwas therightthingto saybutwhichhashadno effect
on
theUnitedStates.2 It is essentialto haveforeignpolicyunited,andthatagainwillmean
compromisebecauseyou cannothavea military
policyunlessyou have gota foreign
policy. It is also essentialforus to playa moreeventful
partin military
policythanwe
have done hitherto.And again,the situationmay be forcedupon us. We saw what
happenedat theReykjavikReagan-Gorbachevsummitin October 1986withoutany
Europeansbeingtakenintoaccountat all. We werealmostfacedwitha 'double zero'
optionwhichwould haveleftus entirelydependenton our own nuclearweaponsand
open to the much largerconventionalforcesof the Soviet Union. As it happened
PresidentReaganchangedhismindaboutthat,and theINF TreatyofDecember1987
providesa much securerbase fromwhichto continuenegotiations.
But we must beware of a situationwhich leaves us dependenton the strategic
weapons of theUnited States.Thinkof thepressureon thePresidentof theUnited
States,weretheSovietUnion to makeanymoves.Is he reallygoingto be able to use his
strategicdefenceagainst the Soviet Union? The pressureagainsthim would be
enormous.His adviserswould tellhimthatonlya tinypartofEurope was concerned.
Europe has got so much otherland. Why should he be preparedto take such an
enormousriskto deal withit?And we mustneverforgetthatin manyofthesethingsit
isn'teventhePresidentwho takesthedecision;it is Congress.We mustneverforget
thattheAmericanCongresscanactwithoutaskinganyoneto influence
itin anyway at
all. What we have to do therefore
is to facethe realitiesof militarydevelopmentin
Europe. I would wish the Communityto developits foreignand militarypolicy as
such.
I do not believe that we should now be thinkingin termsof extendingthe
Community.Of those countrieswhich are possible members,Norway declined
membership,
Sweden,AustriaandSwitzerlandareneutral.I do notbelievethatwe will
createa properforeignpolicy or militarypolicy withthe additionof more neutral
members.We haveIreland.I believeitis possibleto createa policyand sayto Ireland
'Verywell,you haveyourown traditional
opt-out.'I do notbelieveitis possibleto do
thatifwe takein threeotherneutralmembersshouldtheywishto join. Again,I have
been horrifiedto hear it said in Brusselsthatwe should also considerMorocco.
We area European Communityand our taskis now to putour own house in order
and to buildthepermanent
creationthatwe wantbeforewe thinkfurther
aboutadding
2. The DeclarationbytheTwelve on CentralAmerica,encouragingthe peace efforts,
cited in AgenceEurope,28 Jan. 1988, No. 4709, p. 3, is the most recentdeclaration.

EdwardHeath

207

to ourmembership,
letalonemakingarrangements
forneutralcountriestoloin us. We
should say politelybut veryfirmlyto themthatwe will have tradingrelationswith
of thefullCommunity
themas we havealreadybutwillnot allow themmembership
because we standforunityand fora foreignand militarypolicywhichtheyare not
able, to our regret,to accept.We willcarryon thedevelopmentoftheCommunityin
thisdirection,whichis the way it was alwaysintendedto go.
I suggestedat Harvardin theGodkinlecturesin 1968('Old world,new horizons')
nucleardeterrent.
At thetimewe had much
thatwe shouldhavea jointFranco-British
now we havelittleornothingto offerthem.WhenI
to offertheFrench.Unfortunately
came into officeas PrimeMinisterin 1970, PresidentNixon agreedthatifwe had a
joint Franco-Britishdeterrenttherewould be no objection to handingover the
fromAmericansourceswhichwas theninBritishhands.
technicalnuclearinformation
decisionbytheAmericanPresident.I do notknowwhether
Thatwas a veryimportant
one todaywould makea similardecisionor be as courageousas PresidentNixon was.
said 'I don't thinkI can carryit, not at thisstage
PresidentPompidou unfortunately
anyway'; and thenPresidentPompidou was takenfromus.
I believethattheanswerstillliesin a jointFranco-British
nucleardeterrent.
We are
seeing Franco-Germanmilitarydevelopmentsin Europe. Britainought not to be
sittingon the sidelinessaying'Well, let's wait and see if anythingcomes of it.' We
ought to be in on it fromthe beginning.The WesternEuropean Union is at the
momentnot a suitableforumforthe creationof a commondefencepolicy. It was
createdforthespecificpurposeofbringing
Germanybackintothefamilyofnationsas
faras''themilitarytreatieswere concerned,and it servedthatpurposeadmirably.I
myselfused it forotherpurposesin the 1960s in orderto explainour views about
joiningtheEuropean Community.But it is not,in myview,themeansby whichwe
can createthe foreignpolicy and the defenceof Europe.
ifitis stilldifficult
to putthisburdenon
On theotherhand,lookingatitpractically,
the
a
theEuropeanCouncilor
Communityas whole,thenitis possibleto see theWEU
developingto thepointwheretheotheractivecountriesin theCommunityjoin itand
intheEuropeanCommunity.ThatI can see as
itinfactbecomesthefourthcommunity
of
the
a possiblepracticaldevelopment
and foreignpolicyside ofEurope as a
military
whole.
We in the United Kingdomhave got an enormousresponsibility.
Our place is in
Europe. Our policymustbe European.We arefriends
andalliesoftheUnitedStatesas
Europeans,and thatis basic. Butwe mustno longertryto ridebothhorsesat thesame
or
time,foras we willincreasingly
see, we haveno influenceeconomically,militarily
politicallyon theUnited States.These are realities.We mustfacethemand make a
successof the power we can use, whichis thatof Europe.