UN General Assembly
1954

72. Mr. Dulles said that "the problem of peace in Europe has become further complicated because of the recent setback to the consummation of the European Defence Community.” It would be difficult to agree with such a statement, which seems to me to be without foundation, since it is precisely the attempt to force Europe to accept the EDC — which, as the European countries fully appreciate, is a threat to their own security and to the security and interests of all peace-loving nations — that is complicating the problem of maintaining peace in Europe. The European Defence Community is usually represented as an organic unity merging the armed forces of a number of Western European States. It was so described by Mr. Dulles, who further claimed that the fact that the EDC would merge the armed forces of such countries as France and Germany was proof of its non-aggressive character. Yet the facts say otherwise. The facts show that the militarists of Western Germany are at present exerting every effort to revive their war industry and their military strength.