French and Germans had been in touch before Parknasilla but they seemed to be going in different directions. There was no great demand among Community countries to be radical in the political union process. The Italians had some radical ideas but were not sure how to put them into practice. The Spanish approach was in fact rather cautious as was the French. The Belgians were perhaps the most radical after the Italians and seemed to be happy to move down a federalist path. Mr Poos said that if we were preparing a new Treaty we must make sure that it would suit an EC of 16-20 members. The EC was an open community and should act accordingly. He was in favour of countries such as Austria acceding before 1992/93. If negotiations only started in 1992 then it would be 1995 or so before Austria was a full member. He thought that Denmark too was keen on speeding up the accession process, the Netherlands had an open mind, and Portugal and Spain were afraid that enlargement would increase the internal competition for structural funds. They were already concerned about the Association agreements. That said, he did not think they would argue against starting accession negotiations. however agree with the Commission that Turkey was not yet ready to join the EC.
Schengen
He did
8. Mr Poos said he expected that Schengen would be signed before the summer. There were no real problems remaining. Direct taxation would be left out of the agreement. Luxembourg intended to abolish visas for the GDR from June, one month before the EC.
Japanese Cars
9.
Mr Poos said that Luxembourg had the same interest as the UK in treating Japanese cars as Community cars. If the notion of transplants appeared in the Treaty this would not be helpful. There was no point in having a special system for the Japanese cars; we could end up with a situation where American cars had free access but Japanese cars made in the EC did not. Mr Maude pointed out that there seemed to be a general rule that those countries which did not produce cars had the lowest prices. The UK had higher car prices than Denmark. There was a flaw somewhere. Mr Poos said that prices in Luxembourg were competitive.
10. Mr Poos wound up the discussion by saying that he had the impression that the UK had become much more European minded. Luxembourg had always been European minded but was now much more critical of the proposals of the Community and the Council.
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