SOVEREIGNTY FOR WEST GERMANY

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27402, 15 July 1954, Page 11

SOVEREIGNTY FOR WEST GERMANY

Commons To Debate New Plan LONDON, July 13. A British and American plan to grant West Germany her sovereignty without the right to immediate rearmament will be disclosed and vigorously debated in the House of Commons tomorrow, states Reuter’s political correspondent. The plan would comq into operation if there is a long delay in setting up the European Defence Community, the establishment of which is at present a condition for ending the Allied occupation of West Germany. Hints of the plan were contained in the communique issued by Sir Winston Churchill and President Eisenhower after their recent Washington talks. Its implications have not yet been elaborated in the House of Commons, which is tomorrow basing a foreign affairs debate on the Prime Minister’s report of his discussions with the President.

Main interest of the debate will be a statement on behalf of the Foreign Office indicating the conclusion reached on Germany last week at the secret meetings of a British and American expert study group. Britain and America have received a report on these conclusions. They have also been communicated to France and West Germany. Predicted Decision Political sources in London said today that Britain and the United States intended to return sovereignty to West Germany irrespective of the establishment of E.D.C., if the E.D.C. treaty was not ratified by the French Assembly before it rose for the summer recess.

To do this, the signatories of the Bonn Conventions, which wouljl end West German occupation—Britain, France, the United States, and West Germany—must find a legal means of abrogating the conditions which make the ending of occupation dependent on the setting up of E.D.C. The debate will concentrate criticism on two issues which are of deep concern to both Government and Social Opposition benches* These are the difficulty of applying an effective brake to West German rearmament, even on a short-term basis, should the return of sovereignty precede the creation of E.D.C. and the decision of Britain and the United States to set up an expert study group on West German sovereignty without the participation of France, one of the four signatories of the Bonn Conventions.