its presentation, particularly given the chopping and
changing it would seem to involve. The best line we could
take in justification (possibly in the debate in November
on the new cotton textile tariff) would be to say that we
recognised from the start that there were difficulties
inherent in combining existing UK policies with the existing
policies of the Six particularly in the light of current developments in international trade in textiles.
The
The
precise nature of the restraints on imports in 1973 will
have to be the subject of discussion with the Commission
in 1972; and indeed the overall textile policy of the
Ten including the Generalised Preference System will be
discussed within the enlarged Community in 1973.
prospect of qr will be generally welcome to Lancashire but they will expect us to secure arrangements which will not
put them at any disadvantage beside their continental
competitors.
Timing
14
With the negotiations scheduled to draw to a close
in November we cannot reasonably postpone beyond October
a request to the Community to agree on the modalities of our adaptation to the Community's Generalised Preference
Scheme. On the other hand it is clearly extremely
important that we avoid any public row about cotton
textiles before the debate at the end of October.
we might therefore do is:
a) to restrict what we say in the Conference to
What
something on the lines of "There are of course
certain problems in the cotton textile field
arising from the fact that our import regimes
are somewhat different. But we think that
these problems can be dealt with within the
I framework of the technical adaptations. which