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Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennadi Gerasimov cited the "personal chemistry" she enjoyed with Mikhail Gorbachev and lauded her for helping to end the cold war. "She was the first ((in the West)) to recognize Gorbachev | as a world leader, the first to say she could do business with him, and that gave him the ammunition to approach others like Reagan and convince them he was a man to be trusted." Newspapers in Eastern Europe lamented Thatcher because of her unwavering stand against communism and her insistence on human rights. From Britain's partners in the 12-nation European Community, tributes were almost invariably accompanied by the comment that Thatcher had needlessly obstructed the movement toward greater European political union.
Still, at E.C. headquarters in Brussels, where Thatcher was reviled, resented, even hated by many Eurocrats, she will be missed for two reasons. First, as one senior Commission civil servant put it, "Margaret Thatcher was the good enemy," meaning that tirades brought the E.C. public attention and gave it importance. Her opposition to European integration put it on the front pages. Second, Thatcher served as an alibi for other member governments that did not dare openly question E.C. President Jacques Delors's pressure for a quick-step march toward a supranational European government.
Behind Thatcher's full skirts hid skeptics on issues ranging from the abolition of all border controls, to a single currency by 1994, to free immigration within the European Community. "It was easy for certain countries to sit back and let her do the talking," said a senior E.C. diplomat. "She would take the political risks in saying what some others also thought." West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, for example, may have to come out in the open in slowing down the movement toward a common E.C. currency, a goal heatedly opposed by Thatcher and Kohl's own Bundesbank. A new, more European-minded British Prime Minister might also complicate Franco-German relations by simply joining in the subtle games of balance of power within a European Community still adjusting to the enhanced status of a united Germany.
Few doubted that with Thatcher gone, her successor among the three candidates would improve relations with Britain's European partners, even if basic Thatcherite reservations about giving up national sovereignty remained. But first, the party had to unite behind a new leader. "We must heal the wound quickly," said Alan Clark, junior Minister of Defense and a Thatcher supporter. Echoed Timothy Raison, a Tory M.P. and Hurd backer: "We simply must put all this rancor behind us and unite." A Thatcher admirer to the last, Hurd nevertheless called for an end to her confrontational style of politics. "We must practice persuasion rather than assertion," he said.