The Press FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 1956. Future of The Saar

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27859, 6 January 1956, Page 8

The Press FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 1956. Future of The Saar

Although the pro-German parties won a convincing victory in the recent Parliamentary elections in the . Saar, they did not secure the threefourths majority necessary to alter the constitution imposed on the Saar Government by the French in 1947. The voting plainly demonstrates that a big majority of Saarlanders would like to see the Saar attached in some way to Germany. How this is to be brought about is one of the problems facing both the French and West German Governments. Indeed, it is a matter of concern to all Europe on the Western side of the Iron Curtain. Ever since the people of the Saar voted to reject the European Statute jointly sponsored by France and West Germany, it has been obvious that the Saar had become what the “ Manchester Guardian ” described as “ a political vacuum It is important now that that vacuum should be filled by some more satisfactory arrangement, not so much because of the importance of the Saar as an armaments and a heavy industry centre, but because agreement on its future control is essential if relations between a suspicious France and a resurgent West Germany are to be at all cordial.

It seems obvious after the two polls—the one rejecting the proposed European Statute and the other unseating the Christian People’s Party led by Dr. Hoffman as Prime Minister—that the present constitutional arrangement, dating from 1947, cannot be supported much longer. The next move must rest with France and Germany; and probably it will not be long delayed after the announcement of the result of the French General Election just held. In the interval the Saar is to be governed by a coalition among the Right-wing elements (which propose a return to German rule). Further negotiations between France and Germany, since the Parliamentary election, have resulted, according to “ The Times ”, in a decision by the Foreign Ministers that whatever steps should be taken should be in the spirit of the earlier declaration of Mr Pinay for France and Dr. Adenauer for Germany. They agreed that any solution for the Saar must “ take into account “the essential interests of the two “ countries, notably on the economic “ plane It is certain that complex and difficult negotiations will be necessary before the desire of Saarlanders to become in some way a part of Germany can be satisfied. Fortunately, therefore, prospects for negotiation seem better now than for many months past—and certainly better than in the days immediately after World War I, when the same problem arose. This time, although the Saarlanders cannot see why they should not be allowed to rejoin Germany, their nationalist sentiments do not seem to be immoderately fervent. The parliamentary election did not arouse a tempest of political activity; and in the two countries mostly concerned, , France and Germany, the political temperature is well below boiling point. The Germans want at all costs to avoid flouting French feelings, and French anxieties about the Saar are insignificant compared with their deep concern about the future of French possessions in North Africa.