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EXPRESSEN 5.6.90
THATCHER'S MINISTER FOR EC IN STOCKHOLM TODAY
By Lena Katarina Swanberg, London
I interviewed Francis Maude, the British minister for
EC affairs who is visiting foreign minister Anita Gradin today and tomorrow.
"I don't believe that anyone could maintain that neutrality is as important today as it was even a year ago", said Maude. "My vision is that in, say, ten years time, the European Community consists of many more members than the present twelve.
Obviously the 37 year old Francis Maude has not a single comment on Swedish membership, there are limits to what a British minister allows himself.
What is more, not for one moment is his current talks with the Scandinavian countries on the subject of membership. Instead his trip to Finland, Sweden and Norway is to ascertain that the way forward for the EES negotiations will continue smoothly. It is only five years ago since Maude was the youngest member of the British Government, and he has only been at his present job for ten months. He has hardly time to play cricket any more, but he is full of hope that British-Swedish trade will be further simplified.
"To be perfectly honest, I cannot see any serious stumbling block. The aim is to complete negotiations by the end of the year, and it appears to be fully possible. My task will be to explain to the three Scandinavian governments that EC's object is not, and will not, be to transform itself into a federal political union I know that this opinion has strong support in Scandinavia.
Exactly.
On the other hand, there are other, possibly even strong, forces in EC which maintain that the free exchange of trade, the free flow of capital, the mobile workforce and all the more intimate exchange cooperation is just a step en route towards European countries becoming even more united.
The government of Great Britain under Margaret Thatcher however maintains its national sovereignty just as stubbornly as Ingvar Carlsson ever does, with his equally great scepticism over the new instability in Europe, and just as stubbornly as Sten Andersson, and she therefore collides constantly with her more impatient colleagues in EC.
Sweden has the chairmanship of EFTA and of course the closer the Swedish government with its go-slow attitude is to EC, the more advantageous it is for the British ability to apply brakes in the common market.
"We want to draw the Scandinavian countries as close to EC as possible", said Francis Maude.
He will be met with some warmth when he makes his first visit to the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs today. Frank Belfrage, ambassador at the Foreign Trade Department, and Anita Gradin's assistant, fully agrees with Maude that it is completely possible to complete negotiations this year.
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