SCHUMAN PLAN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27404, 1 June 1950, Page 7

SCHUMAN PLAN

Britain’s Inclusion NEW MOVE TO CLEAR UP MISUNDERSTANDING NZPA—Copyright Rec. 9.30 p.m. LONDON, May 31. France last night made a new effort to clear, up the “misunderstanding” over British participation in the French Foreign Minister, M. Robert Schuman’s proposal to pool Europe’s coal and steel industries. . France handed Britain further details of the plan and of the Paris Conference to discuss it on June 15.

The French spokesman said the misunderstanding arose over the French request that countries attending the conference should first recognise the plan’s basic principles. Britain believed from this that she must accept the proposals before the discussions and had refused to do so. France has now explained that prior acceptance was not necessary but the discussions must be kept “ within the framework of the Schuman declaration.’’ American View

M. Schuman’s plan to pool the coal and steel resources of France and Germany and other European nations, whatever its economic implications, provides a tangible opportunity for France and Western Germany to get together after four generations of military strife, is 'the official Washington view of the plan, according to the Washington correspondent of the New York Times. “The whole Atlantic community, including Britain, has everything to gain and nothing to lose in the negotiation of a real understanding between France and Western Germany.” Washington officials believe that some elements in Britain are fearful that the French are trying to create a Franco-German economic bloc that will be powerful enough to dominate the economic life of Western Europe. Coincidentally, the fear in official Washington quarters is that powerful elements in France are assuming that ‘the British do not want to see established any continental economic bloc that may develop into a powerful rival for Britain’s export markets and threaten Britain’s delicately-balanced and carefully-planned economy. The view in official quarters in Washington is that these mutual suspicions are not justified. Washington officials regret the difference of approach by Britain and France and are trying to help to resolve it.

The view of the State Department is that both sides are perhaps pushing events a little too fast. The feeling in Washington is that M. Schuman should be permitted to explore his proposal with the Germans or anybody else he chooses at the beginning. Similarly, the officials feel that the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Ernest Bevin, should not be asked to accept, the Schuman plan in principle until the plan has been worked out in greater detail.