The Paris Agreement:
TAS, SAL
The Paris Agreement Granting of sovereignty and NATO membership to Bonn brings new stability to the Western European scene By Sal Tas PARIS WITH THE SIGNING of the Paris agreements on West...
...The Saar question has been adjusted...
...The success of the Paris Conference had actually been assured at London, when British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden pledged the United Kingdom to maintain ground divisions and tactical air forces on the Continent...
...The Saar population has shown no great eagerness to return to Germany...
...The French, and especially the pivotal French Socialist party, have always considered the presence of England indispensable to a successful Western European community...
...In the present circumstances, many Frenchmen desire British collaboration not only in order to have more effective control of Germany but also in order to have a close ally in the event of any possible quarrel between France and the United Stales...
...Why did the Saar question become pivotal to Mendes-France at Paris...
...There are grounds here not for pessimism but for caution...
...both he and many members of the Assembly stand for "parallel" talks with Moscow on German unification...
...And those who believe in NATO need not complain about the Paris deal...
...On the Friday before the Sunday which marked the end of the London Conference, it will be recalled, Mendes-France suddenly came out with his plan for controlling the distribution of armaments, which—it was apparent—neither America nor the other European powers would accept...
...Mendes-France is certainly no passionate champion of German rearmament...
...Yet, Mendes-France knows that, outside NATO, there is no place for France or for him...
...The result was a tremendous victory for the Government...
...French Premier Pierre Mendes-France is at last free to devote himself to the problems of the domestic economy, in which he is primarily interested...
...Again the reaction of his Assembly was the critical factor...
...We will soon see whether he attacks the old-fashioned, parasitic forms of French capitalism with the same energy he displayed in the international field...
...Despite the Paris accords, the European diplomatic atmosphere is still infected with some of the bad feeling which cropped up at London...
...Despite the objections from certain quarters in the Bonn Parliament, there is little reason to believe that the Paris accords will meet with difficulty, either in France or in West Germany...
...Although Mendes-France finally withdrew the plan (discussion of it has now been relegated to a study group to meet on January 17, or after the French Assembly votes on the Paris agreements), a great deal of suspicion developed...
...In the present context, therefore, the French tend to view the Saar as a form of war reparation by Germany ; there is a case for that...
...Politicians have fussed about the Saar, but it is extremely doubtful that either the French or the German population is really interested...
...A new political and military grouping—the Western European Union—has been created, with Italy and West Germany joining an expanded Brussels Treaty organization...
...the status quo was in her favor...
...The real question now is: Will the Western European Union function efficiently, or will France—through WEU and NATO channels—further delay German rearmament...
...It is up to Britain and America, of course, to make those risks crystal clear...
...E.g.: The Saar football club applied for membership in a French football league, but was rejected because it was too strong, so the club and its fans turned to a German league...
...At the last elections, the pro-German parties tried to make a showing—partly by putting up parties which were against the pro-French government, partly by asking the population to boycott the elections...
...The Saar issue thus permits Mend?s-France once again to return to the Assembly triumphant...
...Had not the French been tactless on certain occasions, interest in reunion with Germany would have remained minimal...
...The Bonn Republic has formally been invited into NATO...
...Even now, given a continuation of the present prosperity, the Saarlanders have little genuine interest in reunion with Germany...
...For Chancellor Konrad Adenauer of West Germany, the Saar decisions were not too great a price to pay for German sovereignty, NATO membership and rearmament...
...He is too much the realist to impede the plans made at Paris if he realizes the risks such sabotage would entail...
...At any rate, the Saar has now been placed on a French monetary basis, and the Paris agreements enable France to act in the Coal and Steel Community as an almost equal partner with Germany...
...Even those who are disturbed about it recognize that, for better or for worse, Mendes-France's tactics have instilled new fire and vitality in the nationalism of the French public...
...And, breathing reality into all these schemes, there is every probability that the Paris program will be speedily ratified by all the nations concerned, including France, before the end of the year...
...additional powers have been given to NATO's supreme military command, to restrain the independent deployment of the new German Army...
...Although Britain has always had and probably always will have a stake in Western European defense, Eden's formal commitment was a crucial one...
...France's actual position in the Saar, realistically speaking, was very strong...
...Many of the ministers felt that the French Premier was fighting his allies with the same ruthlessness normally reserved for an enemy...
...Nevertheless, this is past history...
...Mendes-France dramatized the Saar issue, and the concessions he gained serve admirably to blur the tremendous fact that the German Wehrmacht is being reborn...
...It was certainly pro-French in the early postwar years, and even after the currency reform made West Germany more attractive the Saarlanders' interest was mostly sentimental...
...But it is also true that a great many Frenchmen were willing to pay for the preservation of French nationalism by showing a certain indulgence to German nationalism...
...The three-power occupation of West Germany has, for the most part, been terminated, with the Allies retaining rights only in such international questions as Berlin and German unification...
...The significance of this is obvious...
...Probably many Frenchmen who opposed EDC will feel uncomfortable the first time they see Adenauer's picture in the papers as head of Germany's NATO delegation...
...The Paris Agreement Granting of sovereignty and NATO membership to Bonn brings new stability to the Western European scene By Sal Tas PARIS WITH THE SIGNING of the Paris agreements on West German sovereignty and rearmament, the European question seems to have been settled for the time being...
...it gives us everything we expected from the EDC, and in a much more natural form than EDC would have done...
...That man is a Molotov," one of the ministers is said to have remarked...
Vol. 37 • November 1954 • No. 44
