FOREMOST TASK

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 143, 14 December 1938, Page 9

FOREMOST TASK

NEW. CZECHOSLOVAKIA

FRIENDSHIP WITH GERMANY

POLICY OUTLINED

(By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright.)

(Received December 14, 11.15 a.m.)

PRAGUE, December 13.

The Premier, M. Beran, in a statement outlining his foreign policy, said that the foremost task would be the establishment of: friendship with Germany. He hoped Herr Hitler would understand the mind of, the Czech people after the recent storms. "We will submit ourselves to what is absolutely inevitable without renouncing our inalienable rights or national interests," he said. They would also seek to extend their relations with Britain, France, the United States, Poland, and Hungary. Events in Europe did not permit of optimism, but because of the urgency of internal reconstruction, Czechoslovakia did not desire to re-enter the international sphere. A Bill has been introduced in Parliament enabling the Government to rule by decree for two years, with power to alter the Constitution in a crisis. The decrees limiting the freedom of the Press, meetings, and propaganda have been extended for three months.