Evening star., 1952-02-11
Bargaining Bonn

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Germans, through their parliament at Bonn
have attached number of horse-trading con-
ditions to the resolution committing them to the
principle of participating militarily in the defense
of free Europe.
After ALL for many months past there has
been a great deal of comment in our world about
how very important it Is to have these people as
partners in the common security build-up against
the threat of Red aggression. Obviously, there
fore, In view OF that comment it is merely nat
uraI and logical that they should put special
price-tagS on themselves in relation to the nego-
tiations aimed at having them contribute impor-
tantly to the Atlantic community's defensive
system. If their cooperation is SO mucn
sought after, why should they not try to get as
much for it as they can? In such situation
only the naive would expect them TO 90 otner-
WISE nation, not less than an individual, Is
bound to make the most of it when 1t finds itself
In what seems to be a good bargaining position.
So it should startle nobody to see how the
lower house of the Bonn parliament, while sup
porting the Adenauer governments policy OF
negotiating for West Germany's participation
in the European defense community and the
internationalized army sponsored by France, has
conditioned that support on several quld- d-pro-quo
proposals. The proposals include the following:
% That the Allied powers of1er satisfactory
guarantees against q fait accompn by which the
French might annex the Saar; 90 that the free
Germans be admitted as full members into the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or at least
that they be treated as equals by the NATO alll-
ance; 90 that the sentences of war criminals be
re-examined, with view to ordering releases IN
a number Of cases; a. that the occupation
regime be ended as soon as agreement is reached
on the peace contract" that has been offered
by the occupiers; and (5) that the peace con-
tract" should provide for an end to the controls
now limiting the country's production and re.
search, including atomic research.
There can be little doubt that these proposals
have overwhelmingly popular support In West
Germany, where national pride and self
assertivenesS have been reviving at fast rate.
That is why the parliament at Bonn has in effect
instructed Chancellor Adenauer's government to
offer military cooperation only on the basis OF
getting good concessions in return But this
move for horse-trading deal does not neces-
sarily mean-as some pessimists have suggested
that the Atlantic commmunity's defensive
effort is threatened with serious setback. Like
all bargainers, the Germans have started out
with asking prices that are plainly much too
high in several respects, but they have not done
80 In an adamant take-it-or-leave-spirit, and
1t seems reasonable to suppose they will settle
for less in q manner agreeable to the other
powers concerned.
In any event, despite being in position
to bargain, the West Germans must know that
they cannot safely carry their demands too far.
Their own security, in the last analysis, depends
on the defense build-up of free Europe as
whole Accordingly, as a matter Of self-interest,
they can hardly fail to realize that If they
obstruct that build-up they will at the same
time be endangering themselves fact that
should certainly tend to moderate the nature of
their bargaining.