"We are told that we have to accept the Treaty of Rome. I have read the Treaty of Rome pretty carefully, and it expresses an outlook entirely different from our own. It may be that I am insular, but I value our Parliamentary outlook, an outlook which has extended throughout the Commonwealth. That is not the same position that holds on the Continent of Europe. No one of these principal countries in the Common Market has been very successful in running Parliamentary institutions: Germany, hardly any experience; Italy, very little; France, a swing between a dictatorship and more or less anarchic Parliament, and not very successfully. As I read the Treaty of Rome, the whole position means that we shall enter a federation which is composed in an entirely different way. I do not say it is the wrong way. But it is not our way. In this set-up it is the official who really puts up all the proposals; the whole of the planning is done by officials. It seems to me that the Ministers come in at a later stage—and if there is anything like a Federal Parliament, at a later stage still. I do not think that that is the way this country has developed, or wishes to develop. I am all for working in with our Continental friends. I was one of those who worked to build up NATO; I have worked for European integration. But that is a very different thing from bringing us into a close association which, I may say, is not one for defence, or even just for foreign policy. The fact is that if the designs behind the Common Market are carried out, we are bound to be affected in every phase of our national life. There would be no national planning, except under the guidance of Continental planning—we shall not be able to deal with our own problems; we shall not be able to build up the country in the way we want to do, so far as I can see. I think we shall be subject to overall control and planning by others. That is my objection."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Prime Ministers of the United KingdomPoliticians from EnglandAcademics from EnglandLawyers from EnglandDemocratic socialists
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Speech in the House of Lords on the British application to join the Common Market (8 November 1962)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clement_Attlee
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee KG OM CH FRS PC (3 January 1883 – 8 October 1967) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951. Coming from an upper middle class background, Attlee was converted to socialism through working in the East End of London and became MP for Limehouse in 1922 (later Walthamstow West from 1950–55). He served as Deputy Prime Minister in Winston Churchill's war cabinet during World War II. He was elected Labour Party leader in 1935 and won a lan
137 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Clement Attlee →
Related Quotes
"… the Peace Treaties must be scrapped … I stand for no more war and no more secret diplomacy."
"You may produce a case here and there of abuse of the dole: you may produce an occasional man who marches with the un…"
"[N]othing short of a world state will be really effective in preventing war. As long as you rely for security on a nu…"
"I think that the whole of the movement towards dictatorships in Europe has reached its highest point and that there i…"
"We have absolutely abandoned any idea of nationalist loyalty. We are deliberately putting a world order before our lo…"
"We are told in the White Paper that there is danger against which we have to guard ourselves. We do not think you can…"
"The nationalist and imperialist delusions that run through all this document are far more wild than any idealist drea…"
"Mr. Chamberlain's Budget was the natural expression of the character of the present Government. There was hardly any …"
"The Government has now resolved to enter upon an arms race, and the people will have to pay for their mistake in beli…"
"May I recall here a thing that is not always remembered, that just as India owes her unity and freedom from external …"