ABSTRACT
The basis on which the negotiations took place can be defined by reference to a very small number of texts. The first is of course Article 237 of the Treaty of Rome. The Hague Communique reads: 'They reaffirmed their agreement on the principle of the enlargement of the Community, as provided by Article 237 of the Treaty of Rome. Mr. Brown's statement, which remained throughout the negotiations the principal definition of the British negotiating position and objectives, was a clear and simple one. Apart from crucial matters such as terms of the transitional period and details of the settlements and of the problems of the developing Commonwealth, described in Mr. Brown's statement of three years before and now possibly of fisheries, the positions set out by the two sides seemed to have much in common. The apparent discrepancy between the Community's conception and auhtor's might be found in the insistence, on hope that 'the negotiations can be kept short'.
