The Genoa Conference

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17379, 14 February 1922, Page 6

The Genoa Conference

In discussing' the relations between Britain and France on Saturday, we pointed out that one reason why France dreads the Genoa Conference, which is being called to discuss the general economic situation in Europe, is that she has built her post-war finance on the assumption that Germany would pay everything, and without great payments -by Germany she will be practically bankrupt. Since the first announcement of the European conference was made, France has been working 10 secure the exclusion of Germany and Russia from the Genoa Council Chamber. The official Note announcing the decision to hold the conference spoke warily of the "more stable Powers" taking the lead. If "taking the lead" means telling the less stable Powers wh'at to do, it will lead to trouble. I Franco fears the meeting of Russia and j Germany on equal terms with the other | European nations at Genoa, and she j is now making a bold bid to secure I postponement of the Conference for | three months, "in order that the de- | "tailed programme necessary for such ; "a Conference may be arranged." In its Note on the subject, the French Government insists that the Allied Governments must agree to an interpretation of the principles of the Cannes resolution. There is no question, it says, of France accepting or rejecting the invitation to Genoa; nevertheless she can abstain from participation in the Conference, if the invitation ia accepted under conditions "compromising "her rights or threatening her inter- " eets," and if the "Soviet or any other "Government"—meaning, of course, Germany—"does not completely accept

"the preliminary conditions"—whicfe muct b e settled to the satisfaction ot France-she cannot send a delegation to Genoa. France will not agree to anv conditions necessary to the restoration of confidence which "may trespass "on existing treaties. . • • *"7 ln " " -erference with which will profoundly "disturb the peace of Europe. In other words, France refuses to enter a Conference which may attempt to restore a very sick Europe to health by admitting the right of the sixty millions of Germany and the 150.000,000 of ■Russia to any equal say with the victors in the work of reconstruction. France cannot visualise any reconstruction conference that does not reproj duce tho conditions which ruled at Ver- ! sailles in 1919. But it is certain that if any good is to come out of Genoa, Gr-rmanv and Russia must he present, and a good deal of the spirit which breathed through the Washington Conference must be shown. Even if tho 1 < more stable Powers" _ can dictate to Germany at Genoa, which is doubtful, it cannot be pretended that they can dictate to Russia, Kursia and Germany are the two Powers on whom the economic future of Europe chiefly depends. Franco is opposed to the presence of Germany at Genoa because, as one English paper recently remarked, to summon her as an equal would make a breach in the continuity of the disastrous principle expressed in the Treaty of Versailles and subsequently maintained in dealings witfh Germany —that she exists for us in one capacity and in one capacity only, that of a defeated enemy who must take what we choose to give her. That she exists .also as a trade competitor and as a most valuable potential customer has been ignored in the deliberations of the Supreme Council, however painfully it ha-3 hocn driven home to the consciousness of everyone else. France (lias steadfastly, indeed obstinately, refused, to recognise the Russian Government, but, like the rest of the world, she will realise in the long run that this position cannot be maintained. "What imaginable reason, asks the paper already referred to, can there be for postponing tho benefits of an understanding with a people upon whom tho rest of Europe is dependent for much of its food and raw materials, and who should provide one of the chief outlets for its manufactured goods? If France will only accept the judgment of tho world's experts that to press her claims blindly is to court disaster, then tho way will begin to open to conferences on the whole wide international problem with some hopes of a. settlement. A European conference must meet, and that soon, to agree upon some concerted policy of real reconstruction.