Evening star., 1954-10-24
Review Of the Week:
Europe Signs New Unity Plan
Review Of the Week:
German Participation
In Defense HeruIded
AS Anti-Red Victory

0VUV~oAAA4kA Va w NCoVCIl1 GuIOUE YES
terday completed a new formula for
obtaining German participation in
the anti-Communist North Atlantic
alliance.
Representatives Of nine nations
France, Germany, Great Britain,
Italy, Holland, Belgium, Luxem-
bourg. Canada and the United States
participated in various phases Of
the week-long negotiations in Paris.
They assembled there last Tuesday
to approve details Of agreements
which had been reached in prin-
ciple three weeks earlier at the his
toric London conference. Work pro-
ceeded smoothly. The only hitch
came at the end of the week, when
the Franco-German Saar question
threatened negotiations. Settlement
came only yesterday morning, few
hours before the scheduled formal
approval.
Signing ceremonies yesterday af-
ternoon in Paris marked for the
statesman participants a trium-
phant climax of 81 days feverish
negotiations precipitated by French
rejection of the European Defense
Community. For more than two
years edo had been looked upon as
the beSt-and many believed the
only neutrality-suspicious. for al
lowing West Germany to rearm.
Points Of Accord
Tho dfnlnYnnfc lal hvy 6i,.oy aotn
Premier Pierre Mendes-France and
Germany's Chancellor Konrad Ade-
nauer. with crucial assist from
Britain's Foreign Minister Anthony
Eden, had reached agreement in
detail on these propositions:
. Allied occupation of West Ger
many should be ended and the coun-
try given nearly full sovereignty.
. West Germany and her ex-Axis
partner, Italy, should be taken into
the old Brussels treaty organization
now to be called the Western Euro
pean Union.
. West Germany should be ad-
mitted into the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization as an equal
partner.
. Britain and the United States
should provide strong support for
the new WEU as well as NATO.
. Powers of the Supreme Allied
Commander in Europe (now Gen.
Alfred M. Gruenther of the United
States) should be increased, in re-
spect to both command of conti-
mental forces and control Of arms.
. West Germany should solemnly
declare she will adhere to United
Nations nonaggression articles and
renounce the use of force to reunite
with East Germany.
GA new organization for the con-
troll of continental arms should be
set up.
o The Saar Basin, producer of
coal and steel, should be interna-
tionaliZed, with France and Ger
many sharing in its output.
Up to PorIioments Now
That Is as far as the diplomats
can go now. The rest Is up to the
Parliaments of the powers partici-
pating in the various accords.
Europe now stands almost where it
stood last August 20, just before
Frances Chamber of Deputies jet
tisoned the European. Defense Com
munity. AS in May, 1852, when dip
lomats signed the edo treaty, there
was high optimism that the Par
liaments would follow through-and
quickly.
For in two significant ways the
new WEU is better than the old
European Defense Community:
1. It commits Great Britain.
which had stood aloof from EDO, to
keep four divisions of troops and a
tactical air force on the continent.
2. There is now agreement at the
diplomatic level on a settlement Of
the long -inflamed Saar issue. For
the 27 months that EDO had been
waiting for parliamentary ratiflca-
tion, French and German diplomats
had always lodged a showdown.
In one respect, however, the old
EDO had an important advantage.
1t advanced the cause of European