ABSTRACT
Having dealt at some length in the previous chapter with the background, it may not be necessary in this chapter, long though it is bound to be, to deal in too much detail with the negotiations. Some interesting twists and turns in our negotiations with New Zealand will accordingly have to be omitted. I say with New Zealand, because in fact we negotiated far more with New Zealand than with the Community. Our continual contacts with New Zealand Ministers and officials were described as consultations, or keeping closely in touch; but they were in fact, at least in the first and in the final stages, negotiations in the fullest sense. With the Community the usual pattern prevailed: a preliminary factual paper by us and formal comments thereon by the Commission; a formal proposal by us on 6 November, 1971; a proposal by the Commission in their 'Vue d'ensemble' of 17 November, 1970; and then a long gap till eventually and suddenly a solution was reached in June 1971. This gap was filled, as usual, by occasional formal statements from our side in the Conference in support of our proposals; by continual informal conversations and consultations in capitals and corridors; by continual negotiation, mostly by the Permanent Representatives, among the Six themselves; and by steady pressure on us from New Zealand.
