EUROPE THE OUTSIDERS IN A GENEVA CONFERENCE ROOM BORROWED FROM THE WORLD 
METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION, THE SEVEN MEMBERS OF THE EUROPEAN FREE TRADE ASSOCIATION 
MET LAST WEEK TO REVIVE A MARRIAGE THAT THEY WOULD MUCH 
RATHER HAVE SEEN DISSOLVED . UNTIL CHARLES DE GAULLE'S REJECTION OF 
BRITAIN'S BID FOR COMMON MARKET MEMBERSHIP, MOST OF ITS EFTA PARTNERS 
(SWEDEN, NORWAY, DENMARK, SWITZERLAND, AUSTRIA, PORTUGAL) HAD ALSO BANKED ON JOINING 
THE SIX . INSTEAD, AS THEY RUEFULLY SURVEYED THE DAMAGE, THE 
OUTER SEVEN SEEMED FARTHER OUT THAN EVER . ACCEPTING THE FACT, 
EFTA WHICH WAS GLUED TOGETHER IN A DEFENSIVE REACTION TO THE 
COMMON MARKET IN 1960 DECIDED LAST WEEK TO SPEED UP ITS 
TIMETABLE FOR INTERNAL TARIFF REDUCTION IN HOPES OF STIMULATING TRADE AMONG 
ITS MEMBERS . THE DELEGATES DISAVOWED ANY INTENTION OF STARTING A 
TRADE WAR WITH THE SIX, FOR AFTER ALL, THE COMMON MARKET 
WAS STILL THE BIGGEST CUSTOMER FOR EFTA EXPORTS . " WE 
STILL REGARD THE SEVEN AS A SENSIBLE CONTRIBUTION TO EUROPEAN UNITY, 
" DECLARED EFTA SECRETARY GENERAL FRANK FIGGURES . WITH THE SOLE 
EXCEPTION OF AUSTRIA, WHICH ANNOUNCED THAT IT WILL CONTINUE TO PRESS 
FOR ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP IN THE COMMON MARKET, ALL OF BRITAIN'S OUTER 
SEVEN PARTNERS HAVE NOW SUSPENDED THEIR APPLICATIONS TO JOIN THE SIX, 
AGREE MEANWHILE THAT ANY MOVE TO LINK THE TWO COMMUNITIES WILL 
HAVE TO COME FROM BRUSSELS . FEW THOUGHT IT WOULD COME 
SOON . 