Margaret Thatcher

Statement Before the European Parliament in Support of the Single European Act and the Creation a Common European Market [Abridged]

delivered 9 December 1986

[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from the selected video moments above]

We have set a target date of 1992 for realizing one of the Community's original goals: the creation of a genuine Common Market without barriers to trade between its Members.

The Single European Act agreed at Luxembourg brings up to date the Treaty of Rome. Britain was among the first to ratify the Act. I -- I hope that the rest will do so very soon so that it can enter into force on the 1st of January 1987. We've made a determined effort to see that the Community counts for more in foreign policy and in the strengthening of the open world trading system.

These achievements have been matched by important changes in people's attitude towards the Community. There is, I believe, a more down-to-earth approach, an understanding that the Community is not an intellectual concept but an institution to serve our citizens. That in turn has produced in governments a welcome determination to concentrate on practical goals. One consequence in Britain is that debate about whether we should belong to the Community has been replaced by lively discussion of how to improve its workings....

But today, we face a threat to our way of life and to our democratic principles from a new form of attack, more insidious, but no less deadly than those that have shaken Europe for centuries.

I refer to terrorism.

It has struck indiscriminately at one country after another in the Community. It can strike anywhere. No country is immune. It is vital that we act together in our common defense as we did successfully in the case of Syria. The Council, therefore, agreed on three key principles to guide our battle against terrorism and those who sponsor it. There must be no concessions under duress to terrorists or their sponsors.

There must be improved police and intelligence cooperation and exchange of information to prevent terrorism and to bring the guilty to justice. Terrorist attacks against any one Member State should be regarded as an attack against all and meet with a united response.

It is vital, in dealing with terrorism, to match our actions to our words. Words come easily. Action may carry a cost. That is why I regard our agreement to stand firm in the face of terrorism and to take action against those who perpetrate it as a significant step forward.

There must be no question of saying that an act of terrorism in Britain is a problem for Britain alone to deal with, or that terrorism in France is a problem for the French to handle, or similarly with Germany or Italy or Spain. Any country or terrorist group that may contemplate terrorism against any Member State of the European Community must now know that it faces the united determination of us all.

Mr. President,

We therefore agreed on steps to ensure more effective arrangements for extradition, practical cooperation to deal with theft and forgery of passports, and intensified cooperation against illegal immigration and against abuse of the right of asylum. Only by strengthening controls at the Community's external frontiers in this way can we safely press ahead with simplifying frontier procedures within the Community. We want free movement for our citizens but not for terrorists or other criminals....

Those of us whose countries are Members of the NATO Alliance have recently set out our views in the communiqué of the NATO Defense Ministers meeting.¹ We all agreed that East-West relations are not just a matter of arms control. In particular, human rights are an essential factor in building confidence between East and West.

At the Vienna Conference, reviewing compliance with the Helsinki Final Act, we are insisting on a thorough review of how each country has respected its commitments to human rights. In some cases, it is a sad story. We know the plight of those in the Soviet Union who argue not to overthrow the system but simply for the implementation of what was agreed in Helsinki. Yuri Orlov has emerged from nine years imprisonment to tell us himself of his bitter experiences. People like Mr. Orlov cannot speak out in the Soviet Union. But the Twelve can speak up for them, and we must do so in Vienna during the coming weeks....

Mr. President,

Within the institutions of the European Community there may be an inclination to see relations with the United States through the prism of commercial disputes. Certainly, they are important, and we must stand up strongly for Europe's interests when they are threatened.

But Europe must also take a wider view. There are new hopes and prospects for reducing nuclear weapons. But we must ensure that they are realized without damage to Europe's security. The shared American-European experience of the war years is moving steadily further into the past. The new generation on both sides of the Atlantic are less influenced by the memory of wartime cooperation. Yet the habit of working together across the Atlantic has never been more necessary than it is now.

Over the past few years, we have seen the United States regain its confidence and pride and offer once again strong leadership in defense of our democratic values. We should never fail to give thanks for the outstanding generosity which leads the United States to keep 300 thou -- 330,000 servicemen and their families in Europe.

We must not -- We must not forget either that anything which weakens America weakens Europe and the whole free world.

My conclusion is that in building the European Community we must not only look inwards to our own institutions and policies but also outwards to building up the Atlantic relationship. And let us never forget that the aftermath of war produced two great ideas which have shaped our destiny ever since. One was the NATO Alliance; the other the European Community.

Mr. President, I shall conclude by quoting some words from a remarkable speech by President von Weizsäcker to both Houses of Parliament in London earlier this year. Speaking of our European Community, he said:

We have still not fulfilled the expectations, nor have we exhausted our potentialities. But they exist. The Americans urge the Europeans to use their weight and act in cohesion. The people of central and eastern Europe place their hopes in us. The Third World depend on us Europeans meeting our share of the responsibility for their well-being.²

"Yet," he went on:

We still seem to lack the courage of our own convictions. But if we really take our convictions seriously and think of our children's future, why shouldn't that courage come?³

Mr. President,

It is a mark of how far we have come within Europe that a British Prime Minister should stand before the European Parliament and use the words of a German President.

I would like to see us find that courage, courage to face up not only to the challenges within societies, such as unemployment, and the challenges to our societies from outside, such as terrorism and drugs, but [also] the challenge of realizing our common European strengths to ensure the further spread of democracy and freedom and justice in the wider world. I hope that the British Presidency and the London European Council have taken us a further step down that road.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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¹ Relevant Quotation: "Progress towards more security and peace require not only specific measures in the field of arms control, but also substantial changes in the overall East-West relationship, in line with the principles of the Helsinki Final Act. The Allies thus strongly support the continuation and strengthening of the CSCE process as a vital instrument to develop and enhance stable and constructive East-West relations on a long-term basis. We are concerned about the slow progress at the current CSCE follow-up meeting and the essential need for the USSR and its allies to improve significantly their implementation of the CSCE Documents, especially in the human dimension. The results of the Vienna follow-up meeting must not be confined only to the military aspects of security; it is essential for balanced progress to be recorded in all spheres covered by the Helsinki Final Act. We recall the proposals to this effect submitted by Western allies. In this respect we attach particular importance to the Western proposal on the human dimension." [Source: https://www.nato.int/docu/comm/49-95/c871211a.htm]

² Von Weizsäcker, R. July, 1986. Address by Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker to both houses of Parliament in the House of Parliament [via Google Translate]

³ Ibid.

Original Video Source: multimedia.europarl.europa.eu

Text and Video Note: The selected moments above omit significant rhetorical activity -- from the speaker and from various audience participants -- that occurred during Thatcher's remarks. See, for example, the vociferous floor protests of Ian Paisley. For a fuller account of this activity, read the entire speech text here and/or view the entire footage here.

Video Note: Frame interpolated from 25fps to 60fps

Page Created: 3/26/25

U.S. Copyright Status: Text = Uncertain. Video = Used in compliance with these terms.