GERMANY AND AUSTRIA

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 119, 22 May 1931, Page 9

GERMANY AND AUSTRIA

MOOJED ECONOMIC PACT

FRANCE FEARS FUTURE

(From "Tho Post's" Repre»ntatlve.) , LONDON* Ist April. ,; Austria was helped back tb financial stability by a" scheme drawn up by the Council Of the League of Nations. By No. 1 of the Protocols setting put the details of the scheme and the conditions on which the four Powers agreed to extend to Austria the financial backing of which she stood in need, the Austrian 'Government undertook .to abstain from any. negotiations or from any economic or financial engagement calculated, directly or indirectly* to compromise her independence, and, furthermore, not to ''violate her economic independence by granting to any State a special reglino or exclusive advantages calculated to threaten this independence." These factp have to bo remembered in order to understand why tho German and Austrian Governments have startled Europe with the announcement that they havo concluded a preliminary economic agreement for the establishment of a Customs and Tariff Union between them. People have not been slow to grasp that this is a serious event in international politics. According to Professor Maurice Gerothwohl, writing in the "Daily Telegraph," what Franco and her Eastern allies see and dread in the ■ present Austro-Gcrman move is tlie first and decisivo step towards eventual political union. Tho French imagination visualises at no distant dat&a German army with an additional population of G,000,----000 to draw upon, a figure which, by tho possible further incorporation' of 8,000,000 Hungarians and 4,000,000 Bulgarians, might attain a reinforcement of close ou 20,000,000 men.. She foresees the extension of tho Heidi's politicul sway, on the one hand, to a point > within one hour's railway journey of Trieste and tho Adriatic, and, on tho other hand, to tho neighbourhood of the mouths of tho Danube. France is haunted by the fear of this realisation of German might. CechoSlovakia and tho other partners in the Little En lento are oven more affrighted. Ozccho-Slovakia at onco associated herself with tho French protests. M. BRIAND'S WARNING. On Saturday, M. Briand, speaking in tho Senate, solemnly warned Germany! that France- would not permit tho Economic Union of Austria and' Germany, and protested against the manner in which the project had been sprung upon Europe. The political and economic conditions of Germany and Austria, M. Briand j said, wore regulated by the Treaty of Versailles, and he had to tako into account the resulting difficulties. Some I years ago he found himself confronted by a real danger in the " Anschluss "i movement. It was political then, find now economic. It was a grave danger, and in the presence of tho German Chancellor at Geneva he said: "If you go j that way it will lead to war." "This projected agreement," continued M. Briand, "must not be regarded as something unforeseen. What is most serious its tho way it has boon staged. Tho method is not a good one. It is disquieting, and- contrary to all that has been understood in the discussion of tho conditions of European, collaboration. "I do not adinira such procedure, especially in view of the fact Unit wo moot freely from lime to time in Geneva and Paris to organise tho future of Europe." Speaking of tho immediate action takon, M. Briand rofcrred to the English suggestion that tho matter should bo taken to tho League of Nations, and, if necessary, to the International Court at Tho Hague. This met with his approval, and he told tho Senate: ' If you want to take another route from that which I am taking, and destroy all that Franco has built up in ton years, say so courageously, and not fcr one moment will I persevere. But if you do not want to change our policy, say so, and I shall maintain the necessary sang froid." In many quarters in France 'M. Briand's speech is criticised as feeble. DANGEROUS SET-BACK. "M. Briand, over since LoCarno and even before that, has been accused in Franco of boing too easy and trustful in his relations with Germany,'' says "The Times" in a leading article. "The agreement between the German and Austrian Governments, especially on account of the sedretive and furtive way in which it was negotiated, has certainly weakened his authority and given a dangerous set-back to the policy of appeasement ho has consistently followed. What is most unfprtunate' of all, by reviving all the old mistrust of German policy and German methods it has weakened the prospects for next year's Disarmament Conference, which had become so imich brighter with the conclusion of tho Franco-Italian naval agreement and tho consequent improvement in Franco-Italian relations. It ( is no justification for tho ;• socrecy which was practised in these negotiations to say that -Other Powers negotiating a Customs Union might not have taken their neighbours into their Confidence until they had got as fat- as Germany and Austria had got when they made their announcement-a wc-ek ago. In this matter. Austria is in a very special position as regards the League of Nations and particularly as regards the four Powers —Great Britain, Franco, Italy, and Czecho-Slovakia —which guaranteed the international loan necessary for her financial reconstruction in 1922." MR. HENDERSON'S STATEMENT. In tho Houso on Monday Mr. Henderson (Foreign Secretary) mnde his announcement on the matter. He made no secret of the concern which the whole incident had caused him. lie had received with reserve the news of tho negotiations when it was.brought to his notice by tho Austrian Minister on 2lst March, and the German Ambassador on

24th> March, and had treated the French Memorandum of 24th March, prejudicing the legal points at issue,, with, the same reserve. Ho vow censured the method and the time chosen for revealing the e&istence of those negotiations as "calculated to arouse suspicion" and "to nullify the advantages" of the system, built up since the war, of frequent contacts between the representatives of nations. He described the perturbation of the French Government as "very natural." Having considered the matter, he warned the German and Austrian Governments on 25th, March of the general and genuine misgivings which they had aroused—sufficient, in his view, to prejudice the success of the forthcoming Disarmament Conference—and, with the concurrence of M. Briand, emphatically asked them to go no further until the Council of the League had been given a chance to see whether the proposals did f or not not conflict with the Protocol of 1922. The Austrian Government .replied ihat the signatories of the Protocol could, if they liked, raise the* legal aspect of the matter beforo the Council of tho League, but that they could not consent to an economic agreement being treatod as a political matter. They had no intention, the Austrian Government added, of facing anybody with a fait accompli. GERMANY'S BEfLY. The German Government made the same distinction between legal and poßtical issues, but saw no reason why the Council of the League should take the matter up at all. Mr. Henderson thought that the ambiguity of thi» reply might bo duo to a misunderstanding, and repeated hia suggestion by telephone to Berlin. The German Government, however, repeated that the proposals wore, in their convinced view, not contrary to the Protocol of 1922; that there was nothing to refer, to the League; and that they reserved complete liberty of action with regard to any procedure which the League might suggest. Mr. Henderson interpreted these Teplios as meaning that/the Austrian Government would' concur ■ in< referring the proposals to the League:and that the German Government would 3tate a case before the Lcaguet In any case, he intended to give notice that ho would raise the matter at the next meeting of the Council and support a reference to the Court of International Justico if the Council desired to be advertised by that body.