have to maintain our national interests and develop our national resourc on a narrower base. No doubt we could do this; but the task of doing so would impose progressively heavier burdens on us, and would become progressively more difficult, as European political and economic unity proceeded without us in a neighbouring Community several times our size.
27. We have grown
grown accustomed to the political and military predominance in the world of two super powers whose strength is based on their great size and economic resources. A third-China-is emerging in the Far East. In economic affairs, the European Communities and Japan are also well on the way to super power status. In the IMF and the GATT, and in many other ways which set the pattern of international economic life, the three economic super powers that are emerging in the non-Communist world will increasingly and inevitably be the decisive influences. Individually no European country can ensure that its voice is heeded; collectively, as the Six have shown already in the Kennedy Round, the voice of the Communities cannot be ignored. If we join, therefore, we shall be making sure that British trade and manufacturing interests are represented at the summit of the negotiations where the terms on which we earn our living are decided.
28. If the political implications of joining Europe are at present clearest in the economic field, it is because the Community is primarily concerned with economic policy. But it is inevitable that the scope of the Community's external policies should broaden as member countries' interests become harmonised. That is the Community's clear intention. As regards the co-ordination of foreign policy, the practical obligations which the United Kingdom will assume if we join now will involve no more than we have already assumed in WEU. But we will be joining at a moment when we shall be able to influence the process of development. This will also be true of progress towards economic and monetary union. No firm timetable has yet been agreed for this in the longer term; the immediate steps agreed so far will not involve practical difficulties for us. If we were not to join, this would not stop the Community of Six moving forward in both the economic and political fields. Thus the options open to future British Governments would be limited without their having any say in the matter.
29. We shall have full opportunity to make our views heard and our influence felt in the councils of the Community. The Community is no federation of provinces or counties. It constitutes a Community of great and established nations, each with its own personality and traditions. The practical working of the Community accordingly reflects the reality that sovereign Governments are represented round the table. On a question where a Government considers that vital national interests are involved, it is established that the decision should be unanimous. Like any other treaty, the Treaty of Rome commits its signatories to support agreed aims; but the commitment represents the voluntary undertaking of a sovereign state to observe policies which it has helped to form. There is no question of any erosion of essential national sovereignty; what is proposed is a sharing and an enlargement of individual national sovereignties in the general interest.
30. All the countries concerned recognise that an attempt to impose a majority view in a case where one or more members considered their vital interests to be at stake would imperil the very fabric of the
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