Evening star., 1950-06-25
Britain and the Schumon Plan

The Attlee labor government seems likely to
survive the impending parliamentary vote on
Brtain's present attitude toward the revolution
ary plan put forward by French Foreign Minister
Schuman for merger of Western Europe's coal
and steel resources.
Led by Winston Churchill, the Conservatives
and Liberals have united in submitting motion
demanding that the Laborites take immediate
action to have Britain participate with France,
Western Germany, Italy, Belgium, The Neither
lands and Luxembourg in the six-naton talks
being held in Paris in connection with the
proposal.
The ConServative-Liberal view is that such
participation-which France is especially anxious
to have-would not commit the British to any
thing in advance since they could join in the
talks, as have the Dutch with the clear under
standing that they reserve the right to with
draw when. as and if they find the Schuman
plan unworkable from their viewpoint
But Prime Minister Attlee and his cabinet,
while reaff1rming the governments readiness to
help in developing the plan, have responded with
an amending motion calling upon the House of
Commons to reject the Oppositions demand and
follow the Laborite policy of keeping aloof from
the Paris conference at this time-a wait-and-
see policy ostensbly designed to let Britain make
up its mind, one way or the other, after the dust
settles and there is clearer picture of just how
the proposed coal-and-Steel pool is to operate
The approaching vote on this issue, If lost by
the Laborites, would open the way for a new
general election. MIR. Attlee and his colleagues,
however are reported to be supremely confident,
their optimism apparently being based on the
assumption that much of the Opposition is in
clined to agree with their go-sow caution, not
because the Schuman Plan might undercut the
socialist planners at home, but because its pos
Sible effects have yet to be measured as regards
such things as the national sovereignty of the
British, their own domestic industries and their
special economic and political ties with the
Commonwealth countries
Another factor likely to help the Laborites
in the coming vote is the fall of the Bidaut
government in France-a development raising
questions as to whether the current negotiations
on the Schuman Plan will be seriously upset or
whether they will continue without interruption.
Moreover, there are indications that some of
the other countries in the Paris talks are far
from being sure of exactly what they want to do
or ought to do
All of these things-the revolutionary ma
ture of the coal-and-steel proposal, the complex
tiles involved in it, and the uncertainties felt by
the comforting countries-tend to give the Labor
ties certain amount of support for their argu-
ment that it is best for Britain to remain on the
sldellnes at this stage waiting for further clari-
dcation, looking before leaping.
Actually, weeks probably will be required to
define the project in clear terms. Meanwhile.
regardless of British aloofness and other diff
culties, necessity-the necessity of working to-
gether for their common survival-will continue
to push the Western Europeans, no matter how
slowly, toward the kind of integration France
has proposed.