Scurrying in the Wings

"Eu-ro-pa! Eu-ro-pa!" chanted thousands of Italian university students as British Prime Minister Harold Wilson stepped last week from an R.A.F. Com et at Rome's Ciampino airport. The cheer fitted Wilson's mood. Britain --once great but long insular -- was again seeking admission to the six-nation Common Market, and through it to the larger Europe that the Market envisions. Wilson and his Foreign Secretary, George Brown, were in Italy on a dramatic mission to explore, with top Italian officials, Britain's chances for acceptance.

In Rome, where he also talked with Pope Paul VI about Viet Nam, Wilson made only the first of a series of forays into the heart of Europe. This week he takes his case to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, then goes to Paris for a meeting with the man whose non in 1963 blocked the first British attempt. Next month Wilson will visit the other Common Market capitals. Says he: "What we seek is to make a practical reality of a vision--a vision of a Europe which, strong and united, will be able to play an effective part in the world."

Wilson's words were addressed to a changing Europe that is eager for visions. The postwar period has ended; old alliances are shifting. Western Europe is gripped by a sudden fascination with building bridges to Eastern Europe. For the first time since World War II, Europe feels that it has the strength and stature to shape its own destiny. So far, the most insistent influence on that destiny has been Charles de Gaulle, who wants an inward-looking Europe of independent yet friendly fatherlands extending from the Channel to the Urals--and free from U.S. influence.

Dominating Issue. Harold Wilson puts forward a more inclusive vision. British entry into the Common Market would mean a bigger, potentially far more powerful Europe, adding to the Market 54 million more customers. Britain's science-based industries would help the Continental nations close the techno logical gap with the U.S. Its participation would pave the way for the eventual inclusion in the Market of most, if not all, of the other EFTA nations with which Britain is now economically allied. That would boost the Market's population to more than 250 million, give Europe an economic might nearly equal to that of the U.S. and superior to the Soviet Union's.

But, as De Gaulle clearly recognizes, a bigger Europe could not so easily be dominated by one nation, as France now dominates the policy of the Common Market. He let it be known last week that he was furious that Wilson had the gall to speak on French soil to the Council of Europe before paying his respects at the Elysee Palace. Wilson's aides let it be known that they considered such sensibilities "petty."

Meanwhile, Wilson pushed ahead. In 71 hours of talks with President Giuseppe Saragat and other Italian leaders, he emphasized that Britain no longer wanted any special privileges. "If we join the Common Market," he pledged, "we shall abide by the rules, and we shall play a full part in encouraging the advancement of political unity in Europe." Naturally, Britain would need a few years to adjust its agricultural system to the Market's, and some provision would have to be made to help Commonwealth trading partners that would otherwise be locked out by the Market's high external tariff. But none of this worried the Italians. Said Premier Aldo Moro: "The door is open."

The Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium feel the same way. As Belgium's Foreign Minister Pierre Harmel declared last week: "We have reached the conclusion that it is no longer possible to have Europe without Britain." West Germany also favors British entry, though it is unlikely to push too hard for fear of offending the French.

High Price. Thus the score is 5 to 1 --just as it was in 1963. Do the British stand a better chance this time? That depends entirely on Charles de Gaulle. He, of course, was not saying. There was speculation in Paris that he may be considering a compromise under which Britain would become an associate member for several years while it proves its devotion to Europe. Full membership is another matter. In a recent background briefing for French newsmen, Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Murville ticked off the French conditions for full British participation. Britain must agree to withdraw from its military commitments east of Suez and become a purely European power. It must agree to a devaluation of the pound, end sterling's special role as one of the world's two reserve currencies (the other: the dollar). It must also loosen its ties with the Commonwealth and stop trying to exercise its "special relationship" with the U.S.

Such a price seems unreasonably--perhaps unreachably--high. As much as Britain might yearn to withdraw from east of Suez, it is nevertheless held there by defense treaties, family ties to former colonies and substantial pressure from the U.S. Though Britain is burdened by its responsibilities for protecting the pound, it is not a duty that can be shucked off without endangering the world's fiscal system.

Nevertheless, Wilson tried to please the French by making anti-American noises. Reporting to Commons after last week's Rome talks, he deplored, as De Gaulle does, American takeovers of Continental and British firms--though he last week approved Chrysler's taking control of the Rootes automaking group. He also praised the Franco-British plan to build a swing-wing fighter-bomber in the 1970s. The project, said Wilson, "really means the integration of our aircraft industries."

Political Considerations. For once, De Gaulle himself was in a dilemma. Legally, under the Market charter, he can blackball Britain as he did in 1963. Politically, such a move could backfire. An anti-British stand would hurt his party in the March elections for the National Assembly. A non would also produce what West German Chancellor Kurt Kiesinger calls "eine Auseinander-setzung"--a vast disruption--in the

Market that would lead to bitter enmity and perhaps to paralysis.

Thus, if De Gaulle wishes to exclude Britain from the Market, he must make it appear that the British are keeping themselves out. Wilson knows all this, and is prepared to go to any reasonable length to get in.

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