HE UNITED KINGDOM AND THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
PART ONE
The decision now before us
1. The prime objective of any British Government must be to safeguard the security and prosperity of the United Kingdom and its peoples. Since 1961 successive British Governments have taken the view that these fundamental interests would be best served by British accession to the European Communities.* It has accordingly been their declared policy that the United Kingdom should become a full member of the European Communities provided that satisfactory arrangements could be negotiated for our entry.
2. Our security has been bound up with that of our European neighbours for over a thousand years. No Government in these islands has been able to ignore for more than a short time, or without disastrous consequences, the course of events on the Continent of Europe. For the last twenty-five years the maintenance of our security, together with that of the rest of Western Europe, has been dependent on the Western Alliance, in which the United States of America is, of course, a major partner. In the last twelve years we have seen the development of a more united Europe, based on the European Communities, whose six member countries are also members of the Western Alliance. Whatever the future holds, it is indubitable that our security and that of Western Europe will remain inter- locked. We have to consider whether it will be better served by joining the European Communities than by not doing so.
3. The strength and prosperity of the United Kingdom depend partly on the efforts of its peoples, and partly on the economic conditions prevailing in the world outside. We live, and have for long lived, by manufacturing for and trading with that world. The conditions under which we manufacture and trade are of vital national interest to us. We have to consider whether these conditions will be more favourable to us if we join the European Communities than if we do not.
4. Events of recent years-revaluations, devaluations, and the emergence of new economic powers-have shown that international monetary and trade arrangements need to be adapted from time to time to meet changing circumstances. We have to consider whether our influence on changes in those arrangements will be greater if we are members of the European Communities than if we remain outside them.
5. Our security and our prosperity alike will be profoundly influenced by the decision we now have to make about our accession to the European Communities. Nor will our decision affect ourselves alone: it is for question whether the Communities without the United Kingdom can be as secure and prosperous as they need to be in the modern world. The entry of the United Kingdom into the European Communities is therefore an issue of historic importance, not only for us, but for Europe, and for the world.
* There are at present three Communities—the European Economic Community (EEC), the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM); since 1967 all three have had common institutions.
122483
1
A 2
Page 165Page 166