Common Market

The European Communities unveiled a six-year program to incorporate environmental protection into their economic and social policies. Anthony Fairclough, a senior official of the 12-nation bloc, said Friday that environmental issues are no longer optional on the Common Market agenda; they have become an obligation. The program was drawn up after leaders of Common Market countries last year decided to make environmental protection a part of the bloc's founding 1957 Treaty of Rome.

Riven with internal disputes, the South American trade bloc known as Mercosur sought to project a renewed sense of vigor and unity Friday as member nations welcomed oil-rich Venezuela to the group and lauded the attendance of Cuba's Fidel Castro.

Ambassadors from the 12 Common Market nations agreed that they did not want to break off negotiations with the United States over a pasta and citrus fruit dispute. The United States has charged that Common Market trade policies hurt U.S. citrus fruit exporters and responded by raising import tariffs on European pasta. The Europeans countered by increasing duties on U.S. walnuts and lemons.

Billed as an effort to form the world's biggest common market and secure prosperity for the Western Hemisphere, the Free Trade Area of the Americas pact is looking more like The Incredible Shrinking Treaty. Fearful of acrimony and failure at a summit here this week, negotiators from 34 member countries have stripped out controversial elements, from farm subsidies to commitments to honor intellectual property rights.

California peach and pear growers had protested as unfair trade practices subsidies provided by the Europeans to their producers of canned fruits. U.S. Trade Representative Clayton Yeutter announced a settlement under which the Common Market has agreed to cut its subsidies by 25% by next July and eliminate them entirely by July, 1987.

Foreign ministers of the European Common Market reached broad agreement on membership terms that Spain and Portugal are expected to accept, French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas said. Dumas told reporters that the terms will be submitted immediately to the representatives of Spain and Portugal, whose membership has been under negotiation for six years. The aim is for them to join the trading bloc on Jan. 1.

The 12-nation European Economic Community agreed Wednesday on a program to cut the farm spending that has thrown it into a $6-billion deficit, but the pact was overshadowed by a bitter political feud between Britain and its 11 partners. The agreement by the agriculture ministers of the EEC came a day after a summit meeting of the group's leaders produced deadlock and a round of recriminations. Even Wednesday's pact was not greeted with much enthusiasm.

Guatemalan President Vinicio Cerezo called on Central American governments Monday to form a union similar to the European Communities to settle disputes dividing the troubled region, but El Salvador's foreign minister refused to attend Monday's opening session because of a dispute with Nicaragua.

The 12 European Economic Community nations agreed Saturday to urge the United States to halt what they consider a deliberate effort to drive down the exchange value of the dollar, officials said. The dollar's latest decline, to its lowest level against the West German mark in five years, raised fears in many European countries of a loss of exports to America and thus a loss of jobs. A fall in the dollar's value against European currencies increases the price Americans pay for imported goods.

Leaders of the 12-nation European Economic Community meeting at an emergency summit were deadlocked Thursday over aiding poorer members and curbing huge agricultural subsidies. "Matters are completely deadlocked, especially in the area of agriculture," Dutch Premier Ruud Lubbers was quoted by a senior aide as saying at the close of the first day of a two-day meeting on the trade bloc's financial crisis.

Caribbean leaders have agreed to remove the last of the restrictions blocking the free movement of money, goods and services in the region--among the final steps toward the creation of a European-style single market, the prime minister of Barbados said. Caribbean nations will begin phasing out the restrictions in December, Prime Minister Owen Arthur said Friday at the close of the annual Caribbean summit, which began Tuesday.

WASHINGTON There was scoffing at first, but the proposal by Mexico's president-elect, Vicente Fox, to open the borders and adopt the U.S. dollar throughout North America is getting increasingly serious attention. Fox's ideas have sparked new thought among many in the United States--from economists and demographers to local government officials and business executives--about concepts that had been considered largely unthinkable.

With a nudge from the United States, Turkey early today put economic promise ahead of national pride by accepting an invitation to European Union membership that might ultimately scuttle its disputed claims to Cyprus and several Aegean islands. At first, Turkish officials balked at the terms set out by the rich Western alliance for the membership it sought 13 years ago, with one diplomat saying the attached conditions meant "selling out Cyprus."

What can seven of the world's poorest nations, whose bilateral ties run the gamut from friendship to enmity, do to better those relations and their citizens' lives too? In the Himalayas, 7,250 feet above sea level, ensconced comfortably in Simla, once the hot-weather capital of India's former British rulers, leaders from the South Asian Assn. for Regional Cooperation pondered and discussed that question Wednesday. The association turns 10 this year.

MEXICAN STOCKS * The market shows no sign of stabilizing, as profit-takers continue to dominate and buyers stay sidelined. The Bolsa index added to its 1994 decline on Tuesday with a loss of 71.29 points, or 2.8%, to 2,514.15. That is the lowest close since it hit 2,506.33 on Jan. 17, during the plunge sparked by the rebel uprising in Chiapas state. * With many other world stock markets sliding and with U.S. interest rates on the rise, Mexican stocks are suffering in kind, analysts say.

Current negotiations between the U.S. and Japan indicate that Japan is unwilling to take major steps toward reducing its trade surplus with the U.S. Fortunately, a large reduction of this surplus can nevertheless be accomplished by shifting U.S. imports from Japan to Mexico. With the aid of NAFTA plus the other favorable economic factors that now prevail, much of what is now purchased from Japan can gradually be obtained from Mexico. Since Mexico buys $110 from the U.S. for every $100 we buy from Mexico, and since Japan buys only $45 for each $100 of its exports to the U.S., such a shift in sources of imports would add greatly to the total number of U.S. manufacturing jobs.

Claude Cheysson, commissioner of the European Economic Community, signed an accord granting Nicaragua $7 million for an agriculture project, the Foreign Cooperation Ministry said. A ministry statement issued Monday said the money will be used for a three-year project to develop citrus fruits. The European Common Market has provided nearly $17 million for projects since 1979, when the leftist Sandinistas came to power after ousting right-wing strongman Anastasio Somoza.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said Tuesday that Britain will resist the European Communities' plan to abolish all internal border controls. In a speech at the College of Europe in the medieval Flemish city of Bruges, Thatcher painted a vision of extending to the Common Market as a whole her domestic crusade to cut back the role of government and promote private enterprise.

The North American Free Trade Agreement is dropping like a rock. The closer we look at NAFTA, the more it looks like a shotgun marriage between two countries with radically clashing economies and political systems. The problem with NAFTA goes well beyond the specter of Mexico's $1-per-hour wages sucking millions of U.S. jobs south of the border.

The United States, Mexico and Canada on Wednesday unveiled a historic North American Free Trade Agreement, declaring their intent to create the world's largest common market by eliminating most barriers to the free flow of goods and services from the Yukon to the Yucatan.