After 13 arduous months of negotiations, Britain's hopes of membership in the European Common Market hung in the balance last week. At Common Market headquarters in Brussels, Belgium's Deputy Foreign Minister Henri Fayat said somberly: "The atmosphere is steadily deteriorating, in the conference room as well as outside." In a make-or-break effort to overcome their differences, West Europe's Six suddenly decided to hold intensive, nonstop conferences from Jan. 10 until Feb. 1.
Britain's Prime Minister Harold Macmillan desperately needed a swift settlement. Buffeted by defeats in recent by-elections, Macmillan's Tories now faced a...