BRITISH-GERMAN SUMMIT, 25 NOVEMBER 1993
Statement by the Prime Minister
1. (Scene setting paragraph about the scope and scale of talks). Dr Kohl and I have had a very useful day together.
We discussed a number of current issues. I shall come back to
those later. We also reviewed Anglo-German relations generally and I would like to begin by saying a word on that
subject.
2. The first thing to note is that on most of the issues that
matter today we are at one:
we both believe that the market economies and an open
trading system are the only way to secure our long-term prosperity. The immediate task is to reinforce that by achieving a successful completion of the Uruguay Round in
December.
We both believe that NATO must be preserved and must change.
Preservation means the maintenance of the trans-Atlantic link
and the commitment to common defence; change means the
establishment of a stronger ESDI within NATO and closer
relationships between NATO and its new partners to the East. A Joint Working Group of senior officials has been looking at the major issues on the agenda of the NATO Summit;
- on the European Community I will not claim that our views
are identical at every point but on the fundamentals we are agreed. The EC has to accept the EFTA countries now and it must open up to the East, first through trade, later through membership. We also firmly believe that Europe must improve its competitiveness. This means greater flexibility in the operation of European labour markets and greater innovation by our producers. It does not mean large sums of public money
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