GERMAN TREATY MAY BE DEBATED

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25797, 7 May 1949, Page 7

GERMAN TREATY MAY BE DEBATED

The Western Powers have informed the Soviet Union that they hope the meeting of the Foreign Ministers’ Council in Paris will end about June 15, says the Lake Success correspondent of the “New York Times.” This is a month before the date on which the proposed Western German Government is scheduled to be in operation. The correspondent adds that it is generally believed that the Soviet will insist upon discussions by the Foreign Ministers of a peace treaty with Germany. and on a number of related problems, notably the unification of Germany, the withdrawal or reduction of the occupation forces, and the status of the Ruhr. Announcing in the British House of Commons last night that the Berlin blockade would be lifted on May 12, and that the Foreign Ministers’ Council would meet on May 23, Mr Bevin

said that the Western agreement with Russia showed that the firm yet reasonable policy which the Western Powers had followed had been fully justified. “The British Government will approach the new meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers in the same spirit of firmness and reasonableness,” said Mr Bevin. “I am hopeful that a basis for the enduring settlement of the German problem will be formed at the meeting. Wc shall not abandon in any settlement the principles for which we have always stood regarding Germany. “Now, more than ever, it is right to say how much this country owes to the skill and devotion of the crews and ground staff. British. American, and Commonwealth, who have taken part in the gigantic operation of the Berlin air lift. It will continue until the situation has been finally cleared up.”