(2 of 3)
> In Britain, the opposition Labor Party raised a howl last week because the treaties signed in Brussels by Heath had not first been presented to Parliament. The issue was a spurious one, since the agreements will not take effect until Parliament votes approval. But the protest was a token of the opposition's serious intent to fight "clause by clause and line by line," as Labor Party Leader Harold Wilson puts it, the legislation that will define the terms of membership. Playing on Britons' fears of losing their sovereignty to faceless Eurocrats and of having to conform to continental laws, three Labor M.P.s last week lugged into the Commons three huge bundles of documents to demonstrate the size of the 42-volume mass of current EEC laws and regulations. Even so, Heath's Tory government won a mandate for signature by a 21-vote margin. That was considerably less than the 112-vote majority that last fall favored the principle of membership; it was enough to indicate that Heath's legislation can probably survive major parliamentary tests.
> In Ireland, EEC membership hinges on a constitutional amendment that must be approved by referendum, probably in April. Ireland would gain immensely from membership—particularly the country's beef producers, who are blessed with the best grazing land in Europe and now will benefit from higher EEC prices. The Dublin government predicts that if Ireland joins the EEC, farm-family incomes will double within five years, the country's growth rate will rise from 3% to 5%, and 50,000 new jobs will be created. In spite of that prospect, some Irishmen see a threat to small landholdings in the EEC's program of farm consolidation. They also worry that higher prices for farm products will bring a rush of foreigners to buy up the Irish countryside and fret over a possible loss of Irish neutrality. The government may gather a majority in favor of membership on the bread-and-butter benefits alone, but the vote is likely to be close.
> In Denmark, the final decision will also rest with the voters, in a referendum that will probably be held next summer. The Danes can hardly afford to stay out if Britain, their best customer for butter, bacon and cheese, joins their second best customer, the Common Market. Nonetheless, they—like the Irish—worry that membership will spur land speculation by foreigners. Latest straw polls show a narrow margin of 37% of voters in favor of joining and 31% opposed, but Premier Jens Otto Krag counts on increasing the pro-Market vote before the referendum is held. In Brussels, Copenhagen managed to negotiate special arrangements for Danish-owned Greenland and for the Faroe Islands, an autonomous outpost under the Danish crown that lies some 300 miles south of the Arctic Circle. The 38,000 Faroese will have three years to gauge the effect of Denmark's entry into the EEC before making up their minds on membership or independence.