Communiqué issued by the Conference of Heads of State or Government of the European Community, The Hague, 2 December 1969

On the initiative of the Government of the French Republic and at the invitation of the Netherlands Government:

1. The Heads of State or Government and the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the member States of the European Communities met at The Hague on 1st and 2nd December 1969. The Commission of the European Communities was invited to participate in the work of the Conference on the second day.

2. Now that the Common Market is about to enter upon its final stage, they considered that it was the duty of those who bear the highest political responsibility in each of the member States to draw up a balance sheet of the work already accomplished, to show their determination to continue it and to define the broad lines for the future.

3. Looking back on the road that has been traversed, and finding that never before have independent States pushed their cooperation further, they were unanimous in their opinion that by reason of the progress made the Community has now arrived at a turning point in its history. Over and above the technical and legal sides of the problems involved, the expiry of the transitional period at the end of the year has therefore acquired major political significance.