Separate Government For Western Germany

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 June 1948, Page 5

Separate Government For Western Germany

(Recd. 2 p.m.) LONDON, June 7. The association of the Benelux countries (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg) in policy regarding Germany is recommended by the six-Power London conference on the future of Germany in a report submitted to the Governments of United States, Britain, France, Belgium, Holland and Luxemburg, according to a communique issued today. The recommendations include specific provisions for a close association between the military governors and the Benelux representatives in Germany on matters affecting Benelux interests, with full opportunities for the Benelux representatives to be kept informed of the developments in the Western zones.

The conference also recommended: T. International control of the Ruhr by an authority composed of British, TTn.ifpd States, French, Netherlands, Belgian, Luxemburg, and German representatives. The German representatives should, for the present, be chosen and their votes exercised by the occupying Powers concerned. 2. The establishment of a Constituent Assembly for Western Germany. The' Military Governors of the three Western occupation zones should convene a meeting of the Prime Ministers of the German States within their zones, who would be. authorised to convene a -Constituent Assembly for the whole of 'Western Germany, chartered with the task of preparing a constitution for' a-future Western German Government: 3. The creation of a Military Security Board for the Western zones during the occupation period and the maintenance after the termination of the occupation of a system .of inspection and control of industry to secure disarmament and demilitarisation. Federal Form of Government The conference agreed that the proposed German Constituent Assembly should enable the Germans to play a part in ending the present division of Germany, not by the reconstruction of the centralised Reich but by a federal form of. government, adequately protecting the rights of the respective'states and guaranteeing the rights and freedoms of the individual. The conference agreed to proposals for dealing with certain minor provisional territorial adjustments in Germany’s Western frontiers. . The United States, the United Kingdom and the French delegations reiterated their views that there could not be any general withdrawal of their forces from Germany until Europe’s peace was secured. The communique stated that the present recommendations in no way precluded, and on the contrary should facilitate, an eventual four-Power agreement. They are designed to solve urgent political and economic problems arising from the present situation in Germany. The communique staled that the London agreement on the Ruhr constituted a statement of principles, which should form the basis for a more detailed agreement, setting up an international authority. This authority shall take decisions by majority vote. The United States, Britain, France and Germany shall have three votes each and the three Benelux countries one vote each. i The international authority, if the

German Government does not carry out its decisions, may by a majority vote find that the German Government is in default. The international authority, if the German Government does not carry out its decisions, may by a majority vote find that the German Government is in default. The international authority could then recommend to the occupation authorities certain enforcement measures.

The Associated Press Berlin correspondent says that Military Government quarters regard the application of the majority 'vote as most significant. It means the abolition of the veto which stalled four-Power rule in Germany almost from the beginning. ' ,' : Mr Walter Fisch, chairman of the Communist Party of Flesse in the American zone of Germany, said the London conference proposals ' would split Germany. They were an attempt to incorporate the German people into the system of Western military alliances and would bring a new menace of war. “The German' people will never consent,” he said. The spokesman of the Berlin Social Democratic Party said he regretted that Berlin was not mentioned in the conference communique. The party would not greatly object to the proposed board for international control of the Ruhr, “if German interests are properly protected.” He added that unification of the three Western zones may be regarded as the first step towards reuniting Germany. The Associated Press correspondent at Frankfurt says that Western Germany’s top«political leaders called for Russian zone representation 'in any new German federal government. The Eastern Zone The president of the German Bizonal Economic Council, Dr Erich Koehler, said the representative character of the German Government, which should have its headquarters at Frankfurt, would ,be made clear by including as Ministers without portfolio one or two political leaders of the Eastern zone, either members of the Christian Democratic Union or the Social Democrat Party. There was considerable adverse comment in political circles in Berlin on the detailed arrangements for international control of the Ruin'. In Vienna, the International Socialist Congress expressed the opinion, that the Ruhr should not be returned to private enterprise. It expressed, the hope that the four occupation Powers would find a joint solution to prevent the division of Germany and “therefore, Europe jnto halves.”