Milford chronicle., 1955-03-11
Big Hurdle in Paris

dig AuA uAS Al LaElS
1t is in Paris where the Pacts
were negotiated and where their
predecessor, the EDO, was killed
by the French Parliament, that
difficulties could arise. The Paris
pacts passed the National As
Isembly-the lower house of
Parliamentary a small margin.
The second house of Parliament,
the Council of the Republic,
must approve them in order to
complete ratification. II is pos
sible for the Council to amend
the agreements. This would
then send them back to the Ma
tional Assembly.
Such action could complicate
things, particularly because the
French Premier who managed.
to get the Paris agreements
through the lower house the
first time, Pierre Mendes- France.
mas since fallen.
The action of the West Ger
man BundeStag in passing along
with the Paris agreement on the
Saar a declaration on this sub
.ject asserting the German char
acter of this disputed coal-min-
ing district did not improve the
prospects for the pacts in the
French Council of the Republic.
This is a sore subject in France
too. But the hopes among those
Ifavoring the agreements were
that the Council would never
theless take favorable action.
Even after the pacts get final
ratification. the actual establish
ment of West German military
forces will not be immediate.
The West German government
must get Parliament to pass leg
isiation providing for them.
I NEW Era EOS6ADle
i If and when the Paris pscts
do come into effect and West
German troops do finally stand
shoulder to shoulder with US,
British and French forces facing
the East, this could open I'D a
new era in European history. It
/ has been the ennity between
the French and the Germans
which more than anything else
has constantly frustrated the
realization of the great dream
of powerful and united West
ern Europe.
Unfortunately, however; as the
course of the discussion first on
edo and then on the Paris pacts
in both France and West Ger
many has shown, the concept of
Western union, of cooperation
for defense between France and
Germany, does not get full
hearted support in either coun-
try.
A large part of the French
public-from among all political
! groups-has still strong mis-
trust of Germany and fears a
Irearmed Germany more than
any other threat. In West Ger
many itself there is strong op-
position to joining the Western
coalition at all.
The margin Of popular and
parliamentary support for West
/, ern Union is so narrow it can
imper'l the Paris pact structure
lin the future unless public opin-
ion in both West Germany and
France swings in its favor.
Soviet Moves
Meanwhile the Soviet govern
ment watched the developments
in the West closely. On March
II Moscow announced some sig
nificant changes in the Soviet
government. Thee men were
4 advanced from ordinary deputy
premiers to the rank of first
deputy premiers. They were
A. 1. Mikoyan, M. z. Saburov
and NJ. G. PerVukhin. Four
men were made deputy pre-
miers. None of them had been
in the limelight previously
though all had had careers as
veteran officials of important
rank in special fields. One of the
new deputy premiers, Avrami
Zavenyagin, apparently was the
new tsar of atomic develop
ment, taking over from Deputy
Premier v. NJ. MalysheV who
moved over to supervise q
group of machinery-probabl
y armament ministries. Another
y of the new deputy premiers
y M V. Khrunichev, was a spe-
4 cialist in plane production
These changes seemed to reflect
q increased stress on arms.
d The Soviet Union had uttered
Il many grave threats in connec'
+ ton with the proposed rearm
aIing of West Germany. The
eI course which the Kremlin woulC
: finally take if West Germany
d did actually start to rearm wa.
IS not clear.
a But the signs from Moscow
were not very reassuring.