European Political Co-Operation: America should Welcome It

Abstract

I N a speech in London just 30 years ago, General Eisenhower, then Allied Commander in Europe, called for unity among the European nations. 'It would be difficult indeed', he said, 'to overstate the benefits, in these years of stress and tension, that would accrue to NATO if the free nations of Europe were truly a unit.' This Community of Ten nowadays provides increasingly the context in which Britain frames its domestic and its foreign policies. Since Britain currently occupies the Presidency of the Community, it is particularly appropriate for the British Foreign Secretary to discuss Europe's foreign policy: how it has developed up to now, how it may grow in the future and how I believe it can contribute to the overall strength of the Western world. I should make it clear at the outset that Britain's membership of the European Community does not conflict with but contributes to a new chapter in our historic friendship and partnership with the United States. Ours is a tried and tested friendship based on a shared history and a common heritage, a friendship which, in General Eisenhower's words, 'was never recorded on legal parchment but in the hearts of our two peoples'. The affection shown by so many Americans for the Prince and Princess of Wales at the time of their wedding shows that these bonds of sentiment and friendship remain strong. But the most important element in the great Anglo-American friendship is our shared belief in democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law. These are precisely the principles on which the European Community rests. Britain's active membership of the Community of ten nations, shortly we hope to be joined by two newly democratic states, Spain and Portugal, will strengthen rather than dilute our ties with the United States. It took the First World War to put an end to the period when the United States had tried to stand aloof from Europe and, even then, American involvement in European affairs was reluctant and not entirely happy for either side. Some European leaders found President Wilson's high-minded style oppressive. The French leader Clemenceau grumbled: 'Mr Wilson bores me with his fourteen points. The Lord God has only ten.' Then as the peace talks dragged on, Clemenceau asked: 'How can I talk to a fellow who thinks himself the first man in two thousand years to know anything about peace on earth?'