NEW STATE WESTERN GERMANY

Grey River Argus, 3 June 1948, Page 5

NEW STATE WESTERN GERMANY

SIX POWERS AGREE TO FORMATION (Rec. 9.30) LONDON', June 2. The Six-Power London talks on Germany ended last night when the delegates signed the recommendations they are to submit to their Governments for approval. A’ brief official statement is expected to' be issued to-day. > The main recommendations are: — (1) A German Constituent Assembly of sixty members to be set up at Frankfurt on September 1 to draw up a constitution for a West German Government. (2) An international controlling authority to be set up for the Ruhr., To insure France against the resurgence of an aggressive Germany, it is understood that Britain and the United States have agreed, when the time comes, to end the general occupation of Germany; to consider military arrangements and to cover any particular danger spot. The continued occupation of the Rhine and Ruhr for an undefined period would obviously be a dominant feature of any such scheme, according to the Daily Mail’s diplomatic correspondent. This is regarded, he says, as an alternative to a direct American guarantee of military support for Western Europe, which was sought by France.

GERMAN REQUIREMENTS The function of the international controlling authority for the Rhur will be to allocate the products of this vast industrial region, mainly coal, and steel, among the European nations, while assuring that Germany shall retain a quantity adequate for her own requirements. Arrangements made by the international authority will, it is understood, be fitted into the European Recovery Programme, under the Marshall Plan. The “Times” correspondem says that the question. of the socialisation of Ruhr industries, has been left over for the Germans themselves to decide. The Powers participating in the London conference were Britain, France, the United States and the three Benelux countries, Belgium, Holland and Luxemburg. BERLIN OCCUPATION The Daily Express’ political correspondent says that the Western Powers will insist on occupying their sectors of Berlin, even after the new Government is formed. The Germans will be entitled to appoint diplomatic representatives to foreign capitals, including London. There is to be no immediate integration of the French with the combined Anglo-American zone. According to thsu Times diplomatic correspondent, that will take place, he says, only after the West German Government has been set up and German economic institutions covering the whole area have been brought into being, but, in the meantime, the process of “harmonising the economics of the three zones, already -agreed upon, is now to oe h 3 stoned. Arrangements have also been made, he adds, for associating the Benelux countries in the decisions concerning Germany, affecting their interests. FRENCH FEARS ALLAYED

Earlier, it was stated that the six Power talks on Germany, had ended in London last night with an agreement on the establishment of a Constituent Assembly for Western Germany, and on th control of the R'hur. The German Constituent Assembly will be convened on September 1. But, the Times diplomatic correspondent says, it is understood that it has not yet been decided when an actual functioning German Government shall come into being, it is believed that an Allied control authority of the Ruhr will be established soon after the recommendations have been approved by the Governments concerned. The correspondent says that tne Americans allayed some 'of the French apprehensions about the revival of German militarism, by agreeing to safeguards against any possible re-emergence of Germany as a Great Power. They were not as specific as the French would have wished them to be, concerning the safeguards against possible aggression by another Power (Russia), but they: emphasised that, so long as American troops were in Western Germany, no attack could be made from the East, without their being involved in war. They also renewed their assurances that the American troops would remain in Germany until peace had been made secure in Europe.