BONN MEETING:THE EUROPEAN community was "not a nice club just now", German chancellor Helmut Schmidt told taoiseach Charles Haughey, and "the mood had become quite ugly".
Although their conversation took place 30 years ago, many of its themes are reflected in current debates in the European Union.
The meeting at the chancellery in Bonn, pre-unification capital of West Germany, took place on March 31st, 1981, and lasted one hour and 40 minutes.
In a wide-ranging discussion, the chancellor spoke of the difficulties in his political relationship with British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
He went on to complain of the financial burden Europe was imposing on countries like Germany, adding that French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing felt the same way.
According to the confidential record, released under the 30-year rule, the chancellor said the European Economic Community was “not a nice club just now” and “the mood had become quite ugly”.
The note of the meeting continues: “The chancellor said that he hoped the Irish would not become over-optimistic or over-confident about what could be achieved in the community.
“The taoiseach said that we were quite realistic about it.
“He thought that we would not get the same vote of confidence now as we had got when we joined in 1973, when there had been high hopes of political union. We had been disappointed with progress.”
At a European Council meeting in the Dutch city of Maastricht a week earlier, Schmidt had a major political row with Thatcher, whom he accused of betraying a promise to agree a common fisheries policy.
The note of the Schmidt-Haughey meeting reports: “The chancellor commented on the extraordinary behaviour of the British prime minister at recent councils and in the community generally.”
His disappointment was aggravated by the fact that, next day, tax increases imposed to pay for a European budget refund to Britain would come into effect in Germany, and the note continues: “These taxes were possible only because there were no elections in Germany this year.
“He might be taking a temperamental view but he found it difficult to try to justify to Germany the way in which they were being asked to make concessions all the time.”
“The taoiseach said that if the present type of policies were continued we would finish up with no community.
“The chancellor agreed and said that he had the impression the prime minister had described Maastricht in a ‘victorious and harsh’ way in the British parliament.”
The discussion later turned to the image of Ireland in Europe and the US: “The chancellor said Ireland itself was responsible for the lack of understanding it might be getting in Europe.
“Ireland was better-known in the United States than in some European countries.”
Haughey said he was presenting Schmidt with a sculpture of the ancient hero Cúchulainn – “whose image was like that of Siegfried in German legend.”
The chancellor said the Germans, like many European nations, were “quite ignorant” about Ireland: “Many of them think Shaw is an Englishman.” When he was last in Dublin, in 1979, there was “a row about Viking remnants”.
This was a reference to the dispute over the construction of the civic offices at Wood Quay.
“He was not sure as to the reasons for this dispute,” the note-taker writes. Were the Irish ashamed of their Viking origins or was there some other reason?
“The taoiseach said that the whole row was ridiculous. It should never have happened.”