FRENCH DISAPPOINTED

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 February 1947, Page 7

FRENCH DISAPPOINTED

BRITISH DRAFT OF NEW ALLIANCE ■ DIVISION OVEk RUHR (Rec. 10.55 a.m.) LONDON. Feb. 19. French diplomatic circles are disappointed with the'British draft of the proposed alliance, which they consider much weaker than expected and “only a shadow of what the French thought it to be,” says the Exchange Telegraph’s Paris correspondent. They claim it would bind the two countries in a closer common action than the Franco-Soviet alliance signed in 1944 and would only operate if Germany was in a position to carry out aggressive action against Britain. France and Belgium. . It does not give any more guarantee than the United Nations except that it would help in the event of German aggression before the United Nations could move. It is felt that the public will be disappointed to find Britain again refusing to support the Ruhr’s economic and political separation, thus dividing Britain and France on a crucial point which might become a great menace to European peace. The Communist Party informed the Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee that it opposed the conclusion of the pact before the Foreign Ministers’ conference at Moscow.