De Gaulle Expresses His Displeasure

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31597, 7 February 1968, Page 13

De Gaulle Expresses His Displeasure

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

PARIS, February 6.

President de Gaulle has slashed the guestlist for a luncheon he is giving in honour of President Heinrich Luebke of West Germany, thus expressing his displeasure at remarks reported to have been made by the West German Foreign Minister (Mr Willy Brandt).

Earlier, the West German news agency, D.P.A., had retracted a report, issued on Saturday, in which it quoted Mr Brandt as having described President de Gaulle as “obsessed by power.” The report caused such a flurry of diplomatic activity between Paris and Bonn that it evidently embarrassed both Governments. The French leader’s luncheon, intended to be a formal occasion at the end of Mr Luebke’s three-day visit to Paris to Inaugurate a new West German Embassy residence, was reduced to a relatively intimate meal with only close advisers of the two Heads of State. Meanwhile, French official circles were still seething over Mr Brandt’s reported remark. Informed, sources said the

situation was still serious, though it was felt there was little danger of a lasting rift developing between the two countries over the incident. Mr Brandt has denied having made the remark, but delegates to a Social Democratic Party meeting in Ravensbury, South Germany, confirmed the news agency correspondent’s original report, which quoted the Foreign Minister as saying: “The deep-rooted FrancoGerman friendship, particularly among young people, will in the end be stronger than the rigid un-European thoughts of a Head of Government obssessed by power.” Mr Brandt is due to accompany the West German Chancellor (Mr Kurt Kiesinger) to Paris on February 15 to study French objections to Britain’s joining the Common Miit-ket.