Evening star., 1950-05-18
Germany and Western Preparedness

With the Anglo-Frerlch- American confer
snce completed, the Foreign Ministers of all
twelve nations in the Atlantic Pact are now
concluding talks in London to tighten up Western
defenses against the threat of further direct and
indirect Red aggression. The prime objective of
this top-level get-together has been to promote
greater coordination and unificaton of the
free worlds moral and material resources and
to plan the kind of military preparedness that
will be adequate but at the same time not 50
costly as to work against the economic recovery
Of any of the signatories
Secretary Acheson's meetings with Foreign
Ministers Schuman and Bevin have served as
sort OF clarifying prelude to this weeks
twelve-power talks. For the Anglo-French-
American conference, wholly apart from achiev-
ing meeting of minds on such matters as a
policy designed to help the newly independent
countries OF Southeast Asia to counter the forces
OF Communist imperialism, has re-emphaszed
and REDEEMED the Western Allied program as
regards Germany-a subject that has an all
important bearing on what the members of
the Atlantic Pact have pledged themselves to do
to guarantee their mutual security.
Thus, as set forth in special communique
on the subject, France, Britain and the United
States have unequivocally reafflrmed that they
will continue to occupy Western Germany, and
to exercise supreme authority there, until three
conditions are satisfied The first of these is
that the Germans must demonstrate that they
have real devotion to democracy. The second
is that they must give evidence of genuine
long-term desire for friendly and cooperative
relations with free Europe as whole And
the third-the most important of all-is that the
Soviet Union must agree to peace treaty under
which this partitioned country will be united
as truly independent, non-totalitarian land.
Meanwhile, as the communique pledges,
France, Britain and the United States, though
continuing their occupation, will gradually relax
their controls and transfer growing authority to
the GermanS-Such as the power to determine
ownership of the Ruhr industries-as the Bonn
government proves its ability to govern in a
democratic and effective manner simultaneously
they will do everything possible to speed up
Western Germanys political and economic inte-
grafton into the free European community.
Presumably, despite their failure to mention it,
this means that they will try to translate into
action, step by step, the historic and Spectacu-
1arly far-reaching French proposal for Franco
German partnership in the production and
marketing of coal and steel-a partnership that
could give powerful impetus to the integrating
process throughout all of Western Europe.
Though they are largely restatement of
policies that have been proclaimed before, these
assurances-particularl the one emphasizing
that the Western Allied occupation will continue
as long as needed for the security of both
Germany and the free world at large-are
important to the effective operation of the At
lantic Pact What they represent is firm Anglo
French-American commitment to hold fast on
the crucial German front until the Kremlin Il