30. 1. 84 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 23/51 
Opinion on the enlargement of the Community to include Portugal and Spain 
(84/C 23/17) 
A. LEGAL BASE FOR THE OPINION 
At its 205th plenary session held on 23 and 24 February 1983, the Committee, acting 
on a proposal from its Bureau in accordance with the fourth paragraph of Article 20 of 
its Rules of Procedure, decided to deliver an opinion on its own initiative on the 
above matter. 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
The Economic and Social Committee prepared its opinion on the above matter at its 
212th plenary session held in Brussels on 23 and 24 November 1983. 
The full text of the opinion is as follows: 
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, 
Having regard to its Rules of Procedure, and in 
particular Article 20 (4) thereof, 
Having regard to its decision taken on 22 February 
1983, instructing the Section for External Relations 
to draw up an opinion on the Enlargement of the 
Community to include Portugal and Spain, 
Having regard to the opinion delivered by the Sec­
tion for External Relations at its meeting on 8 Nov­
ember 1983, 
Having regard to the oral report made by the rap­
porteur, Mrs Strobel, 
Having regard to the discussions on 24 November 
1983 during the 212th plenary session held on 23 
and 24 November 1983, 
HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING OPINION 
by 57 votes to 3, with 17 abstentions: 
The Economic and Social Committee is convinced 
that the time is now ripe to open the way for the 
speedy accession of Portugal and Spain. The two 
countries will have to be admitted into the Com­
munity simultaneously. 
The Committee calls on Heads of State and Govern­
ment meeting at the beginning of December 1983 to 
set 1 January 1986 as a firm and final deadline for 
the completion of enlargement. Negotiations must 
therefore be conducted in such a way that national 
parliaments can ratify the act of accession in 1985. The Committee emphasizes that the Community of 
Twelve cannot go on using the decision-making 
procedure currently in operation at the Council. 
This implies that the rules on vetoing will have to be 
relaxed, as the Committee proposed in its June 1979 
opinion on the applications of Greece, Portugal and 
Spain to join the EEC ('). 
The Committee emphasizes that enlargement will 
help consolidate the two fledgling democracies and 
will provide an urgently needed stimulus for further­
ance of political, economic and social integration. 
The Committee considers that the economic and 
financial consequences of the political decision on 
enlargement will have to be accepted. To this end a 
clear and unequivocal decision is called for on the 
future financing of the Community, i.e. both on the 
more appropriate use of current financial resources 
and on the creation of new 'own resources'. Here, 
the Committee would refer to its opinion of 
26 October 1983(2). 
The increase in own resources is vitally necessary 
for the economic and social development — and for 
the enlargement — of the Community. 
To this end a system should be introduced whereby 
the Community institutions can themselves adjust 
EEC resources to the requirements of the Com­
munity's budget; such a system would have to be 
ratified by the European Parliament, whose budget­
ary powers would consequently have to be 
increased. 
(') OJNoC247, 1. 10. 1979. (2) OJ No C 358, 31. 12. 1983. 
No C 23/52 Official Journal of the European Communities 30. 1.84 
The rest of the negotiating period should be used: 
— to find solutions to the problem of integrating 
Portuguese and Spanish farmers in the common 
agricultural policy at a cost acceptable to the 
enlarged Community, 
— to give urgent attention to the vexed fisheries 
issue, 
— to study the consequences of enlargement on 
trade agreements with non-Community Medi­
terranean countries and to create the conditions 
for the implementation of an overall Mediterra­
nean policy, 
— to set differentiated transitional periods: 
(a) which would make it possible in the indus­
trial sector to rectify, as soon as possible, 
the tariff, quota and fiscal imbalances 
which some Community industries have 
suffered from as a result of the 1970 trade 
agreement, (b) which would permit the effective introduc­
tion of VAT in Spain from the beginning of 
the transitional period, 
(c) which would be sufficiently long in the agri­
cultural sector to allow harmonious integra­
tion of the respective farm policies and give 
Spanish agriculture a more appropriate 
access to the market place in future, 
(d) which, as far as the free movement of work­
ers is concerned, would be based on the 
transitional periods agreed with Greece. 
The Committee considers it a matter of urgency that 
the EEC should solve its own domestic problems 
rapidly so that the Community can be consolidated 
and the door opened to enlargement. 
This present opinion does no more than take a stand 
in principle on the present state of the 'Enlarge­
ment' dossier. The Committee will draw up a 
detailed opinion at a later date on the problems of 
particular concern to socio-economic groups. 
Done at Brussels, 24 November 1983. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Francois CEYRAC 
Opinion on the Commission's proposals concerning integrated Mediterranean 
programmes 
(84/C 23/18) 
The text referred to the Committee has been published in Official Journal of the Euro­
pean Communities No C 251 of 19 August 1983, page 1. 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 2 September 1983 the Council, acting under the optional consultation clause of the 
Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, decided to ask the Economic 
and Social Committee for an opinion on the abovementioned matter.