link which is so essential for European security. All of us in
the EC are ready to welcome the East Germans into the Community
with the minimum possible transitional arrangements. So as I
travel to Moscow tomorrow for the last of the "2+4" ministerial
meetings I can assure you that I harbour no deep dark lingering
doubts about the decisions we shall be taking there.
The integration of the GDR into a united Germany and into the
Community is already giving rise to uncertainty and difficulty
but can surely be accomplished successfully. The greater
challenge will then be to help the other countries of Eastern
Curope to transform their economies onto a free market basis.
The European Community can both provide practical help and
inspiration. The Commission has been coordinating impressive
programmes of assistance and also negotiating new frameworks for
market access and economic cooperation. In the long term I
believe that we should be prepared for these countries, when they
are ready, and when they wish it, to become full members of the
EC. There are already moves in this direction amongst EFTA
countries and even a formal application from Austria. In our own
discussion of the future shape of the Community I am sure that
we should do nothing which would appear to close the door
eventual accession by democratic European nations when their
economies make that feasible.
on
But that is not intended as a way of saying that we should not
continue to develop our Community. For example we are all
committed to the goal of economic and monetary union of the EC.
That is no longer news. What is new is that we are getting close
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