European Leaders to Push for a Single Currency

Leaders of the 12 governments of the European Community agreed Friday, over British objections, to a conference next year that will prepare the ground for a single European currency.

The leaders also agreed, again over British objections, to adopt a non-binding “social charter” that spells out workers’ rights in the 12 countries.

Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who has long opposed a common currency and a common policy on labor, signed neither of the agreements. But Thatcher aides said that Britain will attend the conference in a “spirit of constructive argument.”

Jacques Delors, president of the EC Executive Commission, said it was the “historic duty” of the community leaders to hasten the process of integration, including monetary integration.

No firm date was fixed for the conference, which the West Germans hope will be after their elections, scheduled to take place next December.

Community leaders worked late into the night in an effort to produce a statement on the community’s relationship with East Europe, where sweeping political and economic changes are taking place on an almost daily basis.

The EC statement, to be issued at the conference close today, is expected to call for closer cooperation between the community and the East European countries, particularly Poland and Hungary.

The heads of government apparently skirted a potentially serious rift between West Germany and France, which have been at odds on the question of German reunification.

West Germany has called on the community to issue a statement reaffirming the right of the two Germanys to decide the question of reunification. French officials have expressed concern that West Germany might be paying more attention to its relationship with East Germany and the collapse of the Communist system throughout East Europe than to the EC and the Atlantic Alliance.

The differences seem to have been papered over here, but the situation reflects a cooling in the once-warm relationship between President Francois Mitterrand of France and Chancellor Helmut Kohl of West Germany.