John Fraser, IRN
Good afternoon, Prime Minister. Could I first ask about your meeting with Dr. FitzGerald? You had the Summit last year at Chequers and there was a bit of bad blood caused by an understanding (sic) between yourself and certain Irish journalists. That wound seems to have been healed at the Dublin Summit. Did this meeting in Brussels bring Anglo-Irish relations a step further?
Prime Minister
I think it would be right to say that it continued the process and the dialogue which we did start, really, some time before Chequers, but it continued it on the basis of what we agreed at Chequers, and we do not quite know what will come out of it yet, but it was just one step further in the process.
John Fraser, IRN
And this process is going to continue, is it? Are you both determined to try to keep searching for a solution to the problems of Northern Ireland? [end p1]
Prime Minister
We are both determined to go on with the process that we have started, yes.
John Fraser, IRN
Could I turn to the Summit itself, Prime Minister, because it seems to have been a remarkably successful week for Europe. First of all, how do you react to this decision to bring Spain and Portugal into the Community on time, after these very long and at times bitter negotiations?
Prime Minister
Well, it is good news. You are quite right. But you know, it is eight years since Spain and Portugal applied and they would say the negotiations have been very long and I would say that this European Council has been very long and very difficult at times, because we really were arguing about the remaining things line by line, and that is why we took a very very long time, but we got the result we wanted and Greece raised her reserve on enlargement, so enlargement can go ahead, subject to being ratified by our parliaments and also the financial provisions, you know, that we made at Fontainebleau and have still been negotiating ever since in detail, they will now go towards the European Parliament and then be adopted by the Council and then presented to our own parliaments. So it is all ready to go ahead and that is good news. [end p2]
John Fraser, IRN
If I could turn to this Greek block on the enlargement of the Community, what did you have to give Greece? What did you have to sacrifice to get them to lift this veto?
Prime Minister
Well, we had promised two or three years ago that we would have a look at some of the Mediterranean programmes and things which would be affected if Spain and Portugal came in because, of course, being Mediterranean countries, it is a lot more competition on things which are produced and some of which are already in surplus in Italy, France and Greece. So we had promised to do something about it. A promise is not necessarily easy to sort out in detail.
What we have done, as it affects Greece, is that over the seven years which she has to adapt towards Spain and Portugal coming into the Community, she will have a special sum which amounts to, my goodness me, 2 billion ECU.
John Fraser, IRN
I believe it is about £1.2 billion.
Prime Minister
I was rapidly doing a calculation. £1.2 billion, and of course what I had to look at is how does that affect Britain's contribution, and it will amount to just under £10 million a year to Greece from us, through the Community. [end p3]
John Fraser, IRN
Now that you have solved this, do you think the deal will be welcomed in Britain? Why is it so important to bring Spain and Portugal into the Community?
Prime Minister
I think two things are generally understood: first, that you should do everything to extend democracy, and Spain is now a democracy, and it is important that she should remain so and I believe she will remain so, and she is also a partner in NATO.
Portugal, as you know, was remarkable. At one stage she was in danger of being taken over by communism and the ordinary people of Portugal got up and asked for their country back. You have got to do something to help countries like that, and she is poor and she needs to come into the Community to give her hope for the future and to enable her to extend her agriculture, extend her business, her infrastructure and everything else.
So, yes, it is good and everyone understands that democracy is important and everyone understands that we want an area of stability in Europe. We are getting it on a broader basis.
John Fraser, IRN
Looking inward, why do you think there is too much red tape generated by the Common Market which is giving British business a hard time? [end p4]
Prime Minister
Oh, there is. I know it, and I know in the departments the number of people we have to have keeping track of all the new regulations that seem to pour out from Europe, and to me Europe is not a community designed to manufacture more and more regulations, but a community to free up markets and not in fact to put increasing shackles upon them, so I hope that they will look at the many many directives and regulations they have and say: “Is this going to help or is it going to hinder?” I want them really to weed them out and I hope get rid of up to one in three.
John Fraser, IRN
And this will be good for unemployment in Britain for creating new jobs?
Prime Minister
Oh yes. I wonder if you have ever looked at how many regulations a person who wants to start up a person [sic] has to go through. Enormous numbers. And even to take on an extra person. And I do not want them to be hindered in taking on extra people. I want them to take on particularly extra young people, because it is very bad for them to start off by being unemployed. It just is the worst possible thing that could happen. So yes, we want to get rid of some of the regulations and get rid of some of the overheads, and we had a go at that in the Budget.