Brits are mistrustful of EMU. IMHO, they are not likely to join. During the past thirty years or so, I have been hearing people say something like "the Brits are not truly European and they would rather team up with their neighbour across the pond..............."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saturday January 3 1998
Britain
Spy revelations threaten
EU ties
THE TIMES in London Relations with the European Union may deteriorate
further with the disclosure that successive foreign secretaries have used MI6 to spy on Britain's European partners.
Confirmation of the widely held suspicion that Britain's intelligence network had been eavesdropping on Brussels, Paris and Bonn comes only days after Prime Minister Tony Blair took over the EU presidency.
Former Labour foreign secretary Lord Owen has said MI6 provided intelligence material before key negotiations in Europe.
Lord Hurd of Westwell, foreign secretary under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, also admitted as much. Robin Cook, the incumbent, pointedly refused to deny it.
They are all interviewed in the documentary, How To Be Foreign Secretary, to be broadcast in Britain tomorrow.
Lord Hurd said: "Intelligence reports on some occasions are valuable and on some occasions crucial."
Lord Owen, asked if he had made use of MI6 when he was foreign secretary, said: "A bit," adding that he had been uncomfortable about it. "I think you have to be very careful once you join the EU. These are friends and allies."
Lord Renwick, former British ambassador to Washington, recalled countless meetings in Paris with his French counterparts. "I cannot believe that they have spied on me in any circumstances. They wouldn't do that, would they?"
Asked whether he had spied on them, he laughed and said: "That is a separate question. You will have to ask whoever."
Mr Cook, asked whether he had sanctioned spying on his EU counterparts, said: "I am sorry I cannot talk about that . . . it is secret information. We never
discuss that."
The programme features six former foreign secretaries who reveal the demands of one of the most glamorous posts in government. "This would be a great job, if it weren't for the bloody foreigners," one complains.
"Intelligence reports on some occasions are valuable and on some occasions crucial."
|
