ABSTRACT
It is necessary to accept that in a certain sense the whole of our long negotiations were peripheral, accidental and secondary. The general movement of events in 1969 and 1970 revived the opportunity, and was much more important than the negotiations themselves. What mattered was to get into the Community, and thereby restore our position at the centre of European affairs which, since 1958, we had lost. The negotiations were concerned only with the means of achieving this objective at an acceptable price. None of its policies was essential to us; many of them were objectionable. But in order to get in we had either to accept them, or to negotiate acceptable transitional arrangements. We would never have allowed a situation to develop which made it so difficult, for instance, to ensure fair arrangements for New Zealand dairy products or developing Commonwealth sugar, or to create a situation of equity in respect of our contribution to the Budget.
