FINAL VOTE

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27443, 1 September 1954, Page 11

FINAL VOTE

Wild Scenes In Assembly

PARIS, August 30. France tonight killed the European ~rmyTreaty by an Assembly vote un°®oiallJ Put at 319 to 264. Th® “. eat b blow motion—to pass on to the next business”—came after a three days’ debate in the National on whether to ratify the E.D.C. Treaty, already approved by four of the six nations involved. •In an impassioned appeal forrejecJbe veteran Radical statesman. Mr Edouard Herriot. told the deputies: Tne European Defence Community would mean the end of France.” In an atmosphere of mounting tension, the deputies were still hesitating how to cast their votes as they nied past the Assembly rostrum. The vote, one of the most historic in France’s post-war history, took a little more than 30 minutes to complete. The result of the vote on the motion had hardly been read to the packed Assembly when the deputies broke mto an uproar. The Communists rose to their feet and sang the French National Anthem. The 50 Socialists who had followed part'’ discipline, and voted for the treaty, responded with the “Internationale.”

The Popular Republicans, the most fervent supporters of the European Army, walked out but returned later. Cries, boos, whistles, and cheers echoed through the Chamber. A Socialist deputy was held back by attendants when he tried to come to grips with an anti-E.D.C. de Gaullist opponent. Finally the one-armed Assembly President, Mr Andre le Troquer, fruitlessly ringing his order bell, had to adjourn the session until tomorrow.