ABSTRACT
Leading a lot of little Englanders into a mini-Europe has apparently been Mr. Edward Heath’s purpose in working for a wider European unity. Edward Heath's purpose in working for a wider European unity. Public discussion in Britain of the whole European issue has suffered from a lack of rational analysis. In order therefore to recall attention to the wider issues of international trade and economic organisation, the proponents in Britain of an open world economy made the most of the dichotomy which exists in the country between what are called the Atlanticist and Europeanist schools of opinion. In the early 1950s France and other continental European countries sought British and American endorsement of much the same idea. The comparative unwillingness of the USA and Britain to proceed with tariff reductions forced the major continental European countries to move to a regional free trade arrangement as the only course open to them under General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade rules.
