The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED “THE TIMES.” GISBORNE, MONDAY, JUNE 14, 1948. FRANCE AND THE PLANS FOR GERMANY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22663, 14 June 1948, Page 4

The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED “THE TIMES.” GISBORNE, MONDAY, JUNE 14, 1948. FRANCE AND THE PLANS FOR GERMANY

][F the French Government finally decides to support to the hilt the six-Power plan for unified control of Western Germany and for the international supervision of the Ruhr, important progress will have been made towards the economic rehabilitation of Germany as a whole. At first thought it might seem that critical reactions to the scheme by the Russians and German Communists will further widen the breach between East and West and tend to consolidate the partitioning of the defeated nation. Vet it must also he apparent that unless the democratic countries of the West work harmoniously to a definite and positive plan for reconstruction, it will be only a matter of time before the influence of the Soviet Union spreads to the Rhine and the whole of the European continent will face Communist domination. In the circumstances General do Gaulle’s attack on the sixPower recommendations appears shortsighted It was reported by cablegram on Saturday night that lie and many other Frenchmen have less fear of Germany itself than of the prospect, of a Russiancontrolled Germany. Why, then, should do Gaulle seek to embarrass a French Government which, if it. does not approve of the plan in all its details, is at least prepared to lend its aid in making if workable? Although France, for obvious reasons, fears any suggestion of a resurgence of German strength, she and all her prominent men, General de Gaulle included, should realise that as long as approinnate precautions against rearmament are taken, there is nothing 1o cause alarm in a display of unity encouraging the return of peace-time prosperity. Indeed, it is essential to the maintenance of permanent peace that German friendship and co-operation should he invited.

Concessions to French Sentiment

One difficulty at the moment is that the six-Power proposals may have the effect—it is to be hoped that it is only a temporary effect—of alienating German sympathies because of some of the concessions being made to French sentiment. The arrangement for the Ruhr, incorporating the provision for international control of the great coal and steel industries, seem to have been framed with an over-anxious eye to winning French support in other respects. Whereas the Germans up till the present have had some controlling influence over the output of the Ruhr industries, they will have none at all under the new agreement. While it is essential to win French support—France has suffered a great deal in the past from the wrongful use of the German heavy industries- —it. is the scheme for internationalisation of that area which is stimulating the remonstrative German cry, “They are taking the Ruhr away from us.’’ Inevitably this cry will he kept clamant, hv Communist propaganda, which will make every effort to prove to the Germans that the new plan stands between them and any chance of freedom and independence. France should be appreciative of the fact that the majority of the Western Powers are taking certain risks in arranging concessions in her interests. Nobody, least of all any responsible British or American statesman, is likely to deny the truth that a united Germany, and not a dismembered or divided Germany, is the ideal for which the Powers must strive. So far it has been impossible to win Russian approval of the essentials that would make for the economic unification .of Germany. East and West. The Western Powers and the Soviet Union still differ on the principles of freedom of speech, real liberty of the person and unhampered movement of men and goods throughout Germany. If those differences can eventually he reconciled—that goal must, he kept constantly in mind—lasting progress will he made. And the reconciliation is more likely to he brought about by a determined show of united planning in the West.

Fears of New German Crusade

Earlier this year the French and, to a somewhat lesser extent, the Benelux Union criticised the Economic Council set up by the Americans and the British at Frankfurt. They expressed the belief that the concentration of economic power in the hands of central ministries and the centralisation of financial policy in the new States Union Bank would weaken the authority of the State Governments. They feared it might recreate a strong centralised German regime, capable on some future date of directing the angry undercurrent of German nationalisation into a new crusade. To these fears the British and Americans replied that the halkanisation of the economy of western Germany had already proceeded so far that, the country could not possibly recover from its appalling economic collapse unless an economic area is restored large enough to support a population of nearly 40,000,000. As The Economist pointed out, at that time, this is the deadlock—between the political decentralisation necessary to foster local German loyalties and to avoid the dangerous concentration of political power dreaded by the French, and the economic unification essential to the recovery of a functioning economy. In some respects France is clearly justified in her apprehension, but it will be as well for the future of Europe if she decides to support the six-Power findings and thus help to establish unity in paving the way to real peace.