French Action in Saar

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25082, 14 January 1947, Page 6

French Action in Saar

Although it is over two weeks since the French Government virtually sealed off the Saar by sending in 1200 customs officers and establishing a customs frontier and the British Government asked it for an explanation of the move, no reply has yet been reported. Without question the assertion of the diplomatic correspondent of “ The “ Times ” that the action was taken in anticipation of a decision in its favour in the peace treaty, as the French Government hopes, is correct; but what it hoped to gain by a move that will generally be regarded as premature is obscure, unless it imagines that its hands will be strengthened by a fait accompli when the treaty comes to be written, possibly some time in the current year. The French have not disguised during the occupation their intention of creating an economic union with the Saar. Since 1871 this rich territory has changed hands three times; and the devastation that France has suffered in three wars has given her a strong claim, recognised by her allies, to its inclusion in her territory as an act of reparation. As the “Economist” recently remarked, ‘‘the industrial “wealth of the region makes it a “potential pillar of French reconstruction: and it was very widely “ assumed among France’s allies “that the inclusion of the Saar in “ the French economic system, “ coupled with some less direct “political link, would certainly be “ one of the conditions of the Ger“man peace”. Yet there is reason to feel that the unilateral action taken by France without consultation with the other Allies is unwise and uncalled-for, since it betokens French suspicions and lack of trust in her allies to see that her fair claims are fairly met. France may suggest that her latest move is merely an administrative necessity, but she can scarcely hope to persuade other interested nations that that is the only reason for it. Again, as the “Economist" gays, ”It is “ clearly the first step in the policy “of annexation which in principle “is already accepted. . , . This is “precisely the kind of diplomacy “which discredits democratic policy “and leaves an unpleasant aroma <: over all future ’negotiation”.

Moreover, it might well be argued that a present gain may mean a future loss. French 'action? Since the war have not been calculated to improve relations between Frdhce and her allies, particularly Britain and the United States; and this will certainly not ameliorate them, On the contrary, it may increase the irritation of these two countries with France; and that js a situation which the Germans would not hesitate to exploit. France is powerless at present to incorporate the Saar in her own territory; that must await treaty ratification. AR she has succeeded in doing is to raise “ another economically disastrous •' zonal frontier ” in an occupied area to which she has as yet no title.