TURNING POINT SEEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27387, 12 May 1950, Page 5

TURNING POINT SEEN

Franco-German Relations SUGGESTED POOLING OF COAL AND STEEL New Zealand Press Association—Copyright Rec. 8.30 p.m. LONDON, May 11. The Paris correspondent of The Times reports that surprise at the French Government’s proposals for a single authority to control the French and German coal and steel industries was as complete in Paris as elsewhere and French commentators are not yet quite clear just what the proposals involve and how far they are practicable. The enthusiatic welcome accorded to the proposals by the West German Government is noted. Coinciding as it does with l the Bonn Government’s unanimous decision to join the Council 1 of Europe, it suggests that the turning point in relations with Germany has at last been reached. But the French would not be themselves if this very success did hot cause some to wonder whether it is not going too far or whether their Government is not obeying the call of hidden interests or powerful allies.

The favourable reception given t to the proposals by the United States is a source of satisfaction to most, though it suggests to some that the United States had a hand in the matter^—a belief for which there is not the slightest proof, the correspondent says. French officials are reluctant at the present stage to discuss the incidence of the scheme on the existing arrangements affecting Germany, but it is clear that the scheme was evolved against a background that the restrictions and disabilities imposed on Germany are bound to go and that the principal motive was a genuine desire to set Franco-German relations on a new basis. Implications Discussed In London yesterday the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Ernest Bevin, and the American Secretary of State, Mr Dean Acheson, began to thrash out the implications of the plan. 1 The surprise French proposal dwarfed the other matters that the two statesmen had planned to discuss on the second day of their talks. Even the vital Far East and Middle East fronts in the cold war—originally in yesterday’s agenda—were pushed to one side for the moment. European Government and industrial leaders hopefully greeted France’s proposal, although they kept a wary eye on the still doubtful British attitude to the plan, says Reuter. British steel experts calculated that Britain may lose some of her steel trading advantages if she fell in with the pool plan. In Germany and France some Leftist quarters were hesitant. They feared that the deal might turn out to be a huge international employers’ association. From all quarters came support of the plan as the backbone for a new European unity. In Paris the French Foreign Minister, M. Robert Schuman. who made the dramatic announcement, told reporters that he was “delighted by the near unanimity of reaction.” Mr Acheson last night welcomed the plan. He issued a statement from the American Embassy in London saying that the objectives of the plan had long been favoured by the United States Government. He said the plan was a “most important development.” The British Foreign Office would not comment on possible British participation in the scheme. The impression among observers is that the French plan has come as a thunderbolt to the British Government. Reaction in London Reuter’s financial correspondent says, that steel experts in London expressed the opinion that Britain might be reluctant to forgo many of the advantages of her steel industry to support M. Schuman’s proposal for a Common pool between France and Germany and possibly other countries. Britain has found markets for all her exportable steel at prices well above British internal prices and still further above the cut Continental export prices. So far the present Continental price war has. in fact, benefited Britain by reducing the cost of steel which Britain imports from the Continent. British steel experts expressed the opinion that both the German and French steel industries by recent policy had been staking their claims m an organisation such as that proposed by M. Schuman. Some Belgian steel circles have asserted that the Germans and the French were deliberately overselling at the expense of profits to keep their plants better employed and to enlarge their quotas in any coming pool. Belgium has been the prime sufferer from the steel price war between France and Germany. - Market reports show that M. Schuman’s proposal has been favourably received on the Continent. On the Frankfurt Stock Exchange mining shares rose sharply yesterday. German bonds were firm and moderately higher on the London Stock Exchange. The Associated Press correspondent in Paris reports that M. Schuman got only a one-vote margin of approval yesterday in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly on his offer to pool Franco-German coal and steel output. The Rightist deputy, M. Adolphe Aumeran. demanded that Parliament be formally asked to give prior approval to any decision that may be taken on such a pooling. Under French parliamentary procedure defeat on such a motion would have implied criticism of M. Schuman. He avoided this only by an 18 to 17 vote of the committee. .Press Comments M. Schuman’s proposal received a mixed reception in the West Berlin press yesterday. The Independent Tagesspiegel welcomed it as “ an event of importance which gives us satisfaction, because, although it originated in Germany, it has now been taken up from the other side with boldness.” The West Berlin Telegraf, however, said there was a danger of capitalistic and cartel control in the Schuman plan. The Stuttgarter Machrichten said: “Paris may succeed in obtaining the long-sought leadership within the European community of nations.” The London News Chronicle described M. Schuman’s proposal as an offer on the historic plane of the Marshall Plan or of Mr Churchill’s offer of union with France in 1940. “It is the answer to the appeal Mr Churchill piade four years ago at Zurich, wh'en he said that France , alone had it in her power to heal the breach that had plagued Europe for so long,” says the paper. “We most warmly congratulate the French Cabinet . upon taking a step which will restore France’s diminished prestige in the eyes of the whole world.” The Glasgow Herald suggests that M. Schuman’s announcement, made as it was only 24 hours after his meeting , with Mr Dean Acheson, will in all probability be underwritten by the United States. “ Franca is proposing to take the first, and a very long, step forward towards realisation in practical form of what has hitherto been no more than a federalist's aspiration,” concludes the Herald. “The full implications of the proposal must await further information and official enlightenment, but they will assuredly add greatly to the importance of the three-Power talks in London.”