European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 29, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 18 the stars and stripes saturday March 29, 1986 bridging Europe s Borders by Milan Ruzicka associated press a City bus in Strasbourg France stops atthe Rhine River Bridge. Two elderly ladies with shopping carts get on. They Don bother to step away from the doors or look for empty seats. Like All passengers on bus no. 21, they get off at the next Stop Kehl Germany. Hundreds of thousands of people use the bus each month to Cross the French German Border on the outskirts of this medieval City of 250,000. But it has not always been this easy. Forty one years ago Alsace France s Eastern province was captured by Germany. It took some of world War la s bloodiest Battles to push the germans across the Rhine and for the third time since 1681, restore Alsace to France. The wounds of War however healed quickly thanks to the farsightedness of French and German leaders. The 1950 French German plan for the Coal and steel Community became the Cornerstone of the common Market seven years later. Today with the full backing of the european Community commission Union enthusiasts Hope the Community will Lead to a bord Erless Europe before the Century is Over. But the Borders Are still there and Jean Filippi Deputy director of the French customs service s upper Rhine District maintains meticulous records of the comings and goings there. Illegal drugs and imported products Are his top priorities. Last november he said More than 580,000 people crossed the Border into Germany and almost the same number came to France. That was a slow month. French people who work in Germany account for much of the Border traffic. Some 17,000 mostly Blue Collar workers commute daily As far As Karlsruhe and Stuttgart. France with one of the highest unemployment rates in the 12-nation european economic Community encourages the practice. Shopping in Kehl is also made easy for the French by merchants who As a Rule accept the French franc Post bilingual signs and conversion rates and advertise specials in Strasbourg newspapers. Gasoline food and Small appliances Are cheaper in Germany and May be imported duty free. The germans Cross the Border to eat and drink in French restaurants and shop for luxury products such As designer clothing and cosmetics. To Filippi the Busy traffic is the result of the French government s open Border policy. Our philosophy is to make the crossing of the Rhine Bridge As easy As crossing a Bridge in Lyon he said. If you had to wait an hour to Clear customs you would never buy anything in Germany and the germans would t eat but an hour s wait is Standard for paperwork checks for each one of Over 130,000 trucks bringing goods to France each year. Trucks selected at random for customs inspection must wait four hours or More. Filippi acknowledged that passing goods through the Border is More cumbersome but blamed dec regulations for the red tape. More than 80 percent of All the customs regulations Are the Community s and we have to enforce them he said. To enforce the rules the French installed a computer system that cuts the time for Border formalities to 20 minutes. He said Only one out of 10 the Cathedral is Strasbourg s big attraction. Trucks is picked for inspection. But an executive of Heppner a Large International trucking firm based in Strasbourg gave a different Story. It s far easier for us to Export goods to Germany or the Benelux countries than to bring them Here Bernard Becht said. He disagreed with Filippi about the number of rules and the efficiency of the customs service. It takes at least an hour to Check the papers and half a Day for inspection he said. He also claimed the French computer has a built in "30-percent quota meaning three trucks out of 10 Are inspected. Becht said France also is discouraging imports by other Means such As limiting Points of entry for some products. Two years ago there was Only one port which would Clear the imports of videotape recorders he said. There Are still limited numbers of entry Points for farm products processed food or plants. France has too much of a stake in its customs operations he said and will Block the Community s plan to abolish internal Borders by 1992, As proposed by the dec panel. Dieter Rogalla a German Deputy to the european parliament also disagreed with Filippi. Yes there Are far too Many Community customs regulations he said. But Many of those rules exist Only because France insisted on Rogalla said the most recent economic studies indicate customs bureaucracy costs dec businesses 12 billion european currency units $11.4 billion each year. Pear gop Topa Yiu in 70president ka6an. Ito Phim 0cvt How careful ult be bin Herb or. Since he. 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