Negotiations for European Community Enlargement, 1970–71

Abstract

This chapter outlines the negotiations for enlargement of the European Community in 1970–71, demonstrating the influential role that New Zealand played. It explains the British and New Zealand objectives heading into negotiations, the tactics they deployed, and how successful each was in achieving these. It also looks at the role of the European Community and its member states in achieving the ‘special arrangement’ for New Zealand dairy products in the Treaty of Accession, shedding light on Britain’s relations with an integrating Europe. The chapter suggests that the New Zealand Government and industry representatives used the political situation in Britain and continental Europe, and their status as ‘insiders’, to act as ‘brinkmen’, squeezing British negotiators from one direction, while the French Government squeezed from the other. This chapter argues that the special arrangement achieved for New Zealand dairy exports to the European Community in the negotiations of 1970–71 was a reasonably good one, except for pricing provisions. This should be set against the idea that Britain ‘shocked and abandoned’ New Zealand in the course of entry. It also suggests that the structure of the arrangement ensured New Zealand was required to engage with European Community capitals for years to come.