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The 1986 Treaty of Canterbury was ratified by the French Parliament in June 1987, and by the British in July 1987. The French vote was unanimous, in both lower and upper houses, the British vote was contested - though not strictly on party political lines. To simplify a little, the contest in Britain was between those who wished to remain an island, separated from Continental Europe by a defensive moat; and those who looked forward to Britain's post-Imperial role as a powerful region of a more integrated Europe. The French had no doubts about the
merits of the Tunnel.
Ratification of that Treaty in July 1987 brought into existence a 55 year CONCESSION to build, own and operate private
sector Fixed Links between Great Britain and France.
Notice those words
-
Concession Fixed Link -
build, own
and operate - private sector.
The word CONCESSION is rich in history in Hong Kong and the South China Seas and elsewhere. Think of the great British, French and Dutch trading companies of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They were often called Chartered Companies, because they had a Royal Charter or CONCESSION, to develop and to exploit economically a defined geographic territory. One must separate the commercial and social abuses by some concessionaires in bygone centuries from the good sense of the investment principle. Investors will commit long-term capital if they have security of capital and freedom to receive the returns on their capital. The abuses of old are removed in today's world by Regulation - that 20th Century word with which we are lately so much more familiar, in Hong Kong and elsewhere.
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