ABSTRACT
Our aims and tactics for the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and EURATOM had been worked out in detail by the Ministry of Technology before the start of the negotiations and, as with other subjects, had been cleared by the Working Group for Europe. Our major objective, whilst accepting fully the Treaty of Paris which established the ECSC and the Treaty of Rome which established EURATOM, was to make the minimum changes in the structure, powers and practices of the United Kingdom coal, steel and atomic energy industries and of the powers of Her Majesty's Government in relation to them. But there was a doubt in the case of steel. The Conservative Government, on their return to power in June 1970, were pledged 'progressively to reduce the involvement of the State in the nationalised industries, for example in the steel industry, so as to improve their competitiveness'. There was therefore some debate before the negotiations opened whether our objective should go so far as to maintain the existing organisation of the British Steel Corporation. It was decided, however, that no indication should be given of a possible change of attitude until United Kingdom policy had been worked out and it could be determined how valuable any concession might be to us. In the event Ministers concluded by the spring of 1971 that they had to maintain the structure of the British steel industry, and its division between the public and the private sectors, largely as they had found it. The status quo therefore remained the objective.
