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Spread that EEC bug

3rd October 1981
Page 8
Page 8, 3rd October 1981 — Spread that EEC bug
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

IT IS the duty of industrial management to convey its enthusiasm for the European economic Community to its employees, European MP Sir Fred Catherwood told the Cambridge conference.

He said that managers should discuss the matter with shop stewards, and point out that a reerection of tariff barriers would cut the transport industry dead.

He questioned whether the Transport and General Workers Union was aware of what these effects might be, and said: "Your drivers are the first to feel the effect, yet their union says we should pull out of Europe."

Sir Fred, who is MEP for Cambridgeshire and Wellingborough, said Britain "would not stand a cat's chance" of getting any trade from the EEC if it could not get trade from Britain.

Commenting on the likelihood of a Channel Tunnel being built, Sir Fred said that if it had to be built, and he felt the money could be better spent on other transport projects like the A1/M1 link, it would make more sense to build something more ambitious than British Rail's singletrack "mousehole".

He said there was much to commend the combined bridge and tunnel scheme proposed by British Steel, and said this would have a desirable benefit of enforcing greater shipping discipline in the Channel.

He supported the European Commission's proposals for a transport infrastructure fund, but said that the common agricultural policy's command of three quarters of the EEC's budget was a stumbling block. "Everyone thinks it's a good idea, but nobody has any money," he said.

Sir Fred said he was "beginning to see daylight" in the recession which, he said, was caused by the Arab states' inability to spend the proceeds of the 1979 increases in oil prices.


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