BRITAIN AND ITALY

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 115, 9 February 1938, Page 11

BRITAIN AND ITALY

* Rapprochement Move Expected Soon THE EUROPEAN SCENE By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. London, February 7. The Australian Associated Press says that an Anglo-Italian rapprochement is expected to burst into prominence in a few days. The Italian Ambassador in London, Count Grandi, has requested a meeting with the Foreign .Secretary later in the week which may be a prelude to Italy’s steady withdrawal from Spain. There has already been a trickle of Italians from Spain, and if, as is believed, Signor Mussolini intends to make a large-scale recall Britain will facilitate the Italians’ withdrawal through the Non-Intervention Committee, thereby overcoming the Duce's main difficulty of saving his face. The fact is, the agency states, that a succession of events culminating with Herr Hitler’s purge have caused a lightning-like change of the European scene. A stiffer German attitude toward Austria is expected, threatening to weaken the Rome-Berlin axis. Accordingly, Signor Mussolini, with troops in Spain, Abyssinia, and Libya, finds that the Brenner Pass is virtually unguarded, and yet he is pledged to defend Austria.

A message from Rome states that, significantly in view of the Government control, the Press is publishing long dispatches from London suggesting the imminent resumption of AngloItalo talks directed at a Mediterranean agreement. The “Tribuna” forecasts important discussions at a meeting of the Fascist Grand Council on March 3.