ABSTRACT
Lack of information about the activities, procedures and views of the Community was not, fortunately, a handicap from which the author suffered in the negotiations of 1970-72. Apart from the indispensable corpus of background information, the Negotiating Delegation were admirably served throughout the negotiations by an uninterrupted flow of rapid and accurate information about developments and attitudes within the Community. A necessary accompaniment to the negotiations was a procedure for keeping interested third governments, especially those of the Commonwealth, of EFTA and of the other candidate countries, informed of their progress. After each of formal meetings in the negotiations, both at Deputy and at Ministerial level, information about what had transpired was given to Commonwealth and EFTA representatives. Anything the author might wish to conceal would be hard to conceal, at all events as soon as it was discussed at a formal meeting of the Conference. These considerations dictated the action on publicity and relations with the Press.
