Relaunching a United Europe? - Gene H Hogberg - October 1984

Gene H Hogberg

Under assertive French leadership, the flagging fortunes of the Common Market are being revived. But more than economic cooperation is required to produce European unity. For the time being at least, the slide of the 10-nation European Community into oblivion has been halted. French President Francois Mitterrand now says that "a very vigorous and vital relaunching" of European unity can begin. Not a minute too soon, many experts believe. For many a year the world's largest economic bloc had been teetering on the brink of dissolution. Two disastrous summits of the EC's heads of government had collapsed, largely over the issue of the size of Great Britain's contribution to the Community budget. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had insisted on a reduction in annual payments for her country, plus a reform in the EC's budget, which overwhelmingly goes to subsidizing continental farmers and has resulted in huge surpluses of butter, beef, grains and wine. - Information Supplied By: Herbert W Armstrong Library