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GV EXT. Guard of Honour outside Castle Gymnich (2 shots)
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SV INT. Giscard and Schmidt walk forward and sit
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SCU PAN from Giscard to Schmidt
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GV Giscard and Schmidt talking
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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing have had two days of talks in West Germany about the future of the troubled European Common Market.

M. Giscard d'Estaing arrived by helicopter for the talks at Castle Gymnich near ???onn on Monday (8 July). Both men came to power recently and they have known each other since they were finance ministers.

As they talked, to German and French cabinet ministers were also having discussions. French sources said afterwards that the Bonn and Paris governments had strongly reaffirmed the European Common aim of political union by 1980.

The main problems facing the Common Market at the moment are Britain's efforts to obtain more favourable membership terms and Italy's grave economic difficulties. Both Herr Schmidt and M. Giscard d'Estaing are known to feel that it is ultimately up to each member country to straighten out its own economic problems. They believe no country should expect help from its community partners unless it first takes meaningful action of its own.

During the talks Herr Schmidt said West Germany would soon stop a legal loophole by which Germans convicted of war crimes in Franc are escaping prosecution in West Germany.