Downing Street Years - Margaret Thatcher [338]
After more argument, principally between me and Garret FitzGerald, about how to deal with the already overspent 1984 Community budget, President Mitterrand wound up the conference and we retired to a late lunch in high spirits because the deadlock on the budget had been broken.
At my press conference and at the time of my later statement to the House of Commons on the outcome of Fontainebleau there was some criticism that I had not got more. But the crucial achievement was to have gained a settlement which would last as long as the increased ‘own resources’ from the new 1.4 per cent VAT ceiling itself lasted. Of course, in a sense that was not ‘permanent’: but it meant that I would not have to go back every year to renegotiate the rebate until the new VAT limit ran out, and that when it did so I would be in just as strong a position as I had been at Fontainebleau to veto any extra ‘own resources’ unless I had a satisfactory deal on Britain’s budget contribution. More generally, the resolution of this dispute meant that the Community could now press ahead both with the enlargement and with the Single Market measures which I wanted to see. In every negotiation there comes the best possible time to settle: this was it.
ENLARGEMENT OF THE COMMUNITY
It had generally been expected that once we and the Germans had agreed to increase the Community’s ‘own resources’ the admission of Spain and Portugal would run fairly smoothly. In fact it took two European Councils at Dublin and at Brussels to sort it out. The Irish having assumed the Community presidency, the Dublin Council was set for Monday 3 and Tuesday 4 December. I was always the odd ‘man’ out on such occasions simply because as the IRA’s prime political target I had to be surrounded by especially tight security. The Irish Government and Army went to great lengths to achieve this and I always expressed my gratitude to them for it. But I could barely venture out of Dublin Castle, where I would stay, helicoptering back and forth only as strictly necessary.
At least on this occasion it was not Britain but Greece which was marked out as the villain of the piece — and with some justice. The two outstanding issues as regards the terms for Spain’s and Portugal’s entry had turned out to be wine and fish, on both of which the Iberian countries were heavily dependent. The negotiations seemed to be nearing a mutually satisfactory conclusion. It was at this point that Mr Papandreou, the left-wing Greek Prime Minister, suddenly treated us to some classical theatre. A charming and agreeable man in private, his whole persona changed when it was a question of getting more money for Greece. He now intervened, effectively vetoing enlargement unless he received an undertaking that Greece should be given huge sums over the next six years. The occasion for this arose as a result of discussions which had been going on for some time about an ‘Integrated Mediterranean Programme’ of assistance, from which Greece would be the main beneficiary. It seems that the Greeks’ appetite had been further whetted by unauthorized discussion of large sums within the Commission. Mr Papandreou’s statement threw the Council into disarray. Everyone resented not just the fact that Greece was holding us to ransom, nor even the particular tactics used, but still more the fact that, though Greece had been accepted into the Community precisely to entrench its restored democracy, the Greeks would not now allow the Community to do exactly the same for the former dictatorships of Spain and Portugal.
As it happened I talked to Sr. Felipe González, the Spanish Prime Minister, when we were both in Moscow for Mr Chernenko’s funeral the following March. Sr. González, whom I liked personally however much I disagreed with his socialism, was indignant about the terms being offered Spain for entry into the Community. I had a good deal of sympathy with him. I had earlier stressed to President Mitterrand just how vital it was to get Spain and Portugal in quickly and not let short-term selfish considerations stand in the