EUROPE DEADLOCK OR DEATHBLOW ? AS 1963 DAWNED, IT PROMISED TO BE 
THE WEST'S YEAR OF DESTINY . ITS GREAT HOPE WAS THE 
COMMON MARKET, WHOSE HISTORIC MARCH TOWARD THE ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL INTEGRATION 
OF WESTERN EUROPE SEEMED AS IRRESISTIBLE AS IT WAS IRREPROACHABLE . 
IT APPEARED ALMOST INEVITABLE THAT BRITAIN WOULD BE ADMITTED TO THE 
COMMON MARKET AND BE FOLLOWED RAPIDLY BY ITS OUTER SEVEN TRADING 
PARTNERS, FORMING A NEW CONTINENTAL COMMUNITY AS RICH AND POPULOUS AS 
THE U.S . THEN, ARMED WITH BROAD TARIFF-CUTTING POWERS UNDER PRESIDENT 
KENNEDY'S TRADE EXPANSION ACT, THE U.S . WAS PREPARED TO NEGOTIATE 
WITH EUROPE THE BIGGEST, BOLDEST LIBERALIZATION OF TRADE IN WESTERN HISTORY 
. FROM ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP, MANY STATESMEN BELIEVED, WOULD COME THE POLITICAL 
FRAMEWORK OF AN ATLANTIC COMMUNITY . TIRED OF CONCESSIONS . HOW 
FAR THIS GRAND DESIGN HAS RECEDED FROM REALITY IS ONLY NOW 
BECOMING FULLY APPARENT . THE DISINTEGRATION STARTED LAST JANUARY, WHEN, AS 
ALL THE WORLD KNOWS, CHARLES DE GAULLE VETOED BRITAIN'S ADMISSION TO 
THE COMMON MARKET . BUT WHILE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE SIX 
WERE VARYINGLY IRRITATED BY DE GAULLE'S WAY OF SAYING NON AND 
DISAPPOINTED BY BRITAIN'S EXCLUSION, FEW AT THE TIME COULD HAVE PREDICTED 
THE DEPTH AND DURATION OF DISTRUST THAT DE GAULLE HAS STIRRED 
IN EUROPE . AMONG THE SIX, WHO HAVE BEEN DEADLOCKED ON 
ALL MAJOR ISSUES EVER SINCE, THERE IS INCREASINGLY WIDESPREAD APPREHENSION THAT 
FRANCE'S ADAMANTLY SELF-CENTERED POLICIES MAY HAVE DEALT THE DEATHBLOW TO THE 
EUROPEAN COMMUNITY THAT WAS ENVISAGED BY ITS FOUNDERS . IN BRUSSELS 
LAST WEEK, AT AN ANGRY MEETING OF COMMON MARKET FOREIGN MINISTERS, 
WEST GERMANY'S FOREIGN MINISTER GERHARD SCHRODER DECLARED FLATLY THAT HIS GOVERNMENT 
IS TIRED OF MAKING ECONOMIC CONCESSIONS TO SUIT THE FRENCH, WHILE 
GERMANY'S DOMINANT INTERESTS ARE IMPERILED BY DE GAULLE'S FOREIGN POLICY GERMANY, 
WHICH RELIES HEAVILY ON FOREIGN TRADE, IS DEEPLY CONCERNED BY THE 
COMMON MARKET'S ISOLATION FROM THE REST OF EUROPE, AND FOR STRATEGIC 
REASONS IS INCREASINGLY UNEASY AT FRANCE'S ALIENATION OF THE U.S . 
THE SIX, URGED SCHRODER, MUST " TAKE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE " 
TO THE " KENNEDY ROUND " OF TARIFF NEGOTIATIONS, " EVEN 
IF IT MEANS A SLOWDOWN IN OUR INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT . " 
FRANCE'S FOREIGN MINISTER MAURICE COUVE DE MURVILLE, WHOSE GOVERNMENT IS AFRAID 
OF U.S . COMPETITION IN EUROPE, REPEATEDLY MUTTERED " ABSURD " 
AS SCHRODER AND OTHER FOREIGN MINISTERS PRESSED THEIR CASE . HOWEVER, 
SCHRODER HAD A POTENT WEAPON . FRANCE, EUROPE'S LOWEST-COST AGRICULTURAL PRODUCER, 
IS DEMANDING THAT THE SIX ADOPT A UNIFORM POLICY ON FARM 
PRICES BY JULY . SINCE GERMANY WOULD BE FORCED TO FIND 
NEW WORK FOR AT LEAST A MILLION OF ITS HIGH-COST FARMERS 
IF THIS HAPPENS, SCHRODER WARNED THAT HIS GOVERNMENT WOULD FRUSTRATE ANY 
ATTEMPT TO ADOPT A COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY UNLESS FRANCE IN RETURN 
AGREES TO SEEK THE BROAD RECIPROCAL TARIFF CUTS THAT THE OTHER 
COMMON MARKET NATIONS HOPE TO ACHIEVE IN NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE U.S 
. SIXES & SEVENS . THE MOST EXPLOSIVE ISSUE WAS A 
DEMAND BY A MAJORITY OF COMMON MARKET NATIONS THAT THE COMMUNITY 
FORM A PERMANENT COMMITTEE TO MAINTAIN CONSULTATION WITH BRITAIN . AFTER 
INSISTING THAT THE PALAIS DES CONGRES CAUCUS ROOM BE CLEARED OF 
ADVISERS INCLUDING SEVERAL AMBASSADORS COUVE DE MURVILLE SAID FURIOUSLY THAT BRITAIN 
HAD BEEN TRYING TO UNDERMINE THE COMMON MARKET EVER SINCE DE 
GAULLE'S VETO . SAID HE : " FRANCE CANNOT POSSIBLY ACCEPT 
THIS BRITISH BEHAVIOR . " BUT THE SHOCK WAVES HAVE SPREAD 
FAR BEYOND THE COMMON MARKET . BRITAIN, WHICH ONLY FOUR MONTHS 
AGO HAD SUCH FAITH IN EUROPE THAT IT WAS READY TO 
SUNDER ITS TIES WITH THE COMMONWEALTH AND WITH THE EUROPEAN FREE 
TRADE ASSOCIATION, HAD TO SWALLOW ITS PRIDE IN LISBON LAST WEEK 
AND MAKE A DESPERATE EFFORT EVEN TO KEEP EFTA TOGETHER AT 
ITS FIRST TOP-LEVEL MEETING SINCE FEBRUARY . THE REASON IS THAT 
BRITAIN'S GOVERNMENT HAS ACCEPTED THE FACT THAT IT WILL PROBABLY NOT 
ENTER EUROPE DURING DE GAULLE'S LIFETIME AND, IF THE COMMON MARKET 
SHOULD STAGNATE, MAY NEVER JOIN . FRANCE'S DESIGN FOR A NARROW, 
PROTECTIONIST, THIRD-FORCE EUROPE HAS HAD ITS MOST TRAUMATIC EFFECT ON WASHINGTON, 
WHICH EVER SINCE WORLD WAR II HAS TAKEN FOR GRANTED THAT 
THE U.S . AND EUROPE HAVE COMMON IDEALS AND INTERESTS . 
LAST WEEK, ON THE EVE OF A MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE TO DISCUSS 
THE SCOPE AND APPROACH OF THE KENNEDY ROUND OF TARIFF CUTS, 
IT WAS ALREADY PLAIN THAT FRANCE IS AGAIN DETERMINED TO SEEK 
ITS OWN NARROW SELF-INTEREST, WITHOUT REGARD FOR ITS COMMON MARKET PARTNERS 
AND WITH EVERY INTENTION OF BLOCKING U.S . HOPES OF EXPANDING 
TRADE WITH THE NEW EUROPE . INDEED, AS LONG AS THE 
INNER SIX ARE SPLINTERED AND THE SEVEN REMAIN OUTER, THERE WILL 
BE NO NEW EUROPE . 