on the Social Fund. 66
Commission farewell lunch for Lebsanft (German Ambassador),at which I had to make a short speech, and then a resumed Commission at 3.30, which, alas, went on until 9.50. The main subject of contention was one aspect of Vredelingâs Social Fund proposals, in which the âregionalistsâ, Giolitti and Natali, were against the âsectoralistsâ, who were primarily Ortoli and Davignon. At one stage we had an adjournment for redrafting. Then Giolitti and Natali said they would vote against. I thought this unfortunate. A minority of two is one thing. But a minority of both the Italians on regional policy is another. So we went on and on, trying to find a compromise and eventually put it to a
Chefs de Cabinet
meeting for an hour, who did then produce an acceptable draft, a rather good piece of work by the
Chefs,
with Michael Emerson in the chair. But it was all very time-consuming and I doubt if I ought ever again to allow a Commission meeting to go on as long as this. 67
In addition to the Social Fund problem we had the very difficult issue of certain personnel appointments, including that of Christopher Audland 68 as deputy Secretary-General, David Marquand 69 as head of the special new Parliamentary and Social Partners Group, and my proposal to set up a Central Planning Unit with a German at its head. A good deal of opposition on all grounds. Davignon was against Audland, supported by Haferkamp and Giolitti. I then thought I ought to give Ortoli a chance to support Audland, which he had said he would do, but in fact didnât and merely went off into a typical âdefend-the-oldâ attack on the Central Planning Group. A bit of general muttering against that, and I had to say that I would provide them with a more clear outline of its role. But I hope that will go through eventually. David Marquandâs jobâthough not for the moment his appointmentâI got through by a small sleight of hand. Tugendhat was not very effective at this meeting, which was important for him as Personnel Commissioner and which is unusual with him. But I suspect everybody was tired and rather bad-tempered. I went home at 10.30, too exhausted to eat.
FRIDAY, 18 MARCH.
Brussels, Bonn and East Hendred.
Crispin and I set off by car for Bonn just after 12 oâclock. Rather cold, standing-up picnic lunch by the side of the autoroute just short of the German frontier. Into Bonn shortly before 3.00 for my meeting with Schmidt. 70
It was a bad day for him, as is now often the case, for the telephone bugging row which had been simmering away in Germany for some time had suddenly blown up to a new dimension. As a result he was half an hour late, although full of apologies. I then had a one-and-a-quarter-hour meeting with him, talked a little about the Commission, and secondly about representation at the Western Economic Summit, which was the main purpose of my visit. Here he opened hard, aggressive/defensive: he wasnât going to quarrel with his âfriend Valéryâ; he was the only real friend he had; he was the only person who supported him, while others were yapping away at him to reflate the whole time, etc.
I argued the case in a variety of ways. The point he was keenest on was when I told him I wasnât going to preach reflation at him, which indeed I did not think was very sensible. The point that at first he seemed less keen on was any argument about the Americans being eager that we should be there, which provoked a good number of anti-Carter complaints, and I wondered whether my having slipped in that Carter was inviting me to an early visit to Washington was wise, as Schmidt obviously was not tremendously pleased to hear this. However, later aspects of the conversation made me slightly change my mind about this. He dismissed the DutchââThe trouble is that the Dutch ought to be 60 million and the Germans 12 million; it would no doubt be better for the world, but God
Commission farewell lunch for Lebsanft (German Ambassador),at which I had to make a short speech, and then a resumed Commission at 3.30, which, alas, went on until 9.50. The main subject of contention was one aspect of Vredelingâs Social Fund proposals, in which the âregionalistsâ, Giolitti and Natali, were against the âsectoralistsâ, who were primarily Ortoli and Davignon. At one stage we had an adjournment for redrafting. Then Giolitti and Natali said they would vote against. I thought this unfortunate. A minority of two is one thing. But a minority of both the Italians on regional policy is another. So we went on and on, trying to find a compromise and eventually put it to a
Chefs de Cabinet
meeting for an hour, who did then produce an acceptable draft, a rather good piece of work by the
Chefs,
with Michael Emerson in the chair. But it was all very time-consuming and I doubt if I ought ever again to allow a Commission meeting to go on as long as this. 67
In addition to the Social Fund problem we had the very difficult issue of certain personnel appointments, including that of Christopher Audland 68 as deputy Secretary-General, David Marquand 69 as head of the special new Parliamentary and Social Partners Group, and my proposal to set up a Central Planning Unit with a German at its head. A good deal of opposition on all grounds. Davignon was against Audland, supported by Haferkamp and Giolitti. I then thought I ought to give Ortoli a chance to support Audland, which he had said he would do, but in fact didnât and merely went off into a typical âdefend-the-oldâ attack on the Central Planning Group. A bit of general muttering against that, and I had to say that I would provide them with a more clear outline of its role. But I hope that will go through eventually. David Marquandâs jobâthough not for the moment his appointmentâI got through by a small sleight of hand. Tugendhat was not very effective at this meeting, which was important for him as Personnel Commissioner and which is unusual with him. But I suspect everybody was tired and rather bad-tempered. I went home at 10.30, too exhausted to eat.
FRIDAY, 18 MARCH.
Brussels, Bonn and East Hendred.
Crispin and I set off by car for Bonn just after 12 oâclock. Rather cold, standing-up picnic lunch by the side of the autoroute just short of the German frontier. Into Bonn shortly before 3.00 for my meeting with Schmidt. 70
It was a bad day for him, as is now often the case, for the telephone bugging row which had been simmering away in Germany for some time had suddenly blown up to a new dimension. As a result he was half an hour late, although full of apologies. I then had a one-and-a-quarter-hour meeting with him, talked a little about the Commission, and secondly about representation at the Western Economic Summit, which was the main purpose of my visit. Here he opened hard, aggressive/defensive: he wasnât going to quarrel with his âfriend Valéryâ; he was the only real friend he had; he was the only person who supported him, while others were yapping away at him to reflate the whole time, etc.
I argued the case in a variety of ways. The point he was keenest on was when I told him I wasnât going to preach reflation at him, which indeed I did not think was very sensible. The point that at first he seemed less keen on was any argument about the Americans being eager that we should be there, which provoked a good number of anti-Carter complaints, and I wondered whether my having slipped in that Carter was inviting me to an early visit to Washington was wise, as Schmidt obviously was not tremendously pleased to hear this. However, later aspects of the conversation made me slightly change my mind about this. He dismissed the DutchââThe trouble is that the Dutch ought to be 60 million and the Germans 12 million; it would no doubt be better for the world, but God
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