‘Record of Conversation between the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster [Sir Geoffrey Rippon] and the Portuguese Foreign Minister [Dr Rui Patricio]’, 8 March 1972, PRO, PREM 15/887.

After the opening courtesies Mr Rippon said that his concept of a united Europe stretched from the Iberian Peninsula to Finland. Mr Rippon hoped that the Portuguese would feel that the mandate given to the Commission for the negotiations was reasonable. Dr Patricio congratulated Mr Rippon on the tremendous success of the United Kingdom's enlargement negotiations which were a triumph for him personally. The Portuguese had reached a turning point in their policy towards Europe. In the present state of development of the Portuguese economy the dominance of agriculture was giving way to that of industry. Mr Rippon said that in our own negotiations difficulties were caused by the need to have separate negotiations for each of the four acceding states. Mr Rippon asked what proportion of Portuguese exports went to the United Kingdom. Senhor Lopez said around 40 percent.