Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-01-14
BY COSBY S. Noyes
Foreion cefrsspondsni q ne Sic

. Foreign cerrsspondsni Of The Star
PARASITIC conference Of
Western European Union nations
scheduled to meet here next
Monday to discuss a European
arms pool may not produce any
spectacular decisions. It viii,
however. provide an important
test Of willingness to cooperate
on common problems between
the seven member nations Of
the new community.
Already. there have been signs
Of strain over the idea Of the
arms pool which the French
have made their special baby.
There has been much talk about
a united front. drawn up
against the French plan by the
British and the Benelux coun-
tries. France. on the other
hand, is reported to be trying
to line up the support Of Italy
and Germany. There is specula-
ton that the real motive of
Premier Pierre Mendes-France's
trip to Rome and Bonn was to
sound out the possibilities OF
launching the arm a m en- It's
scheme, If necessary on a three
power basis, over the heads and
no doubt the warm objections of
the other allies.
Altogether, the atmosphere for
the first get-together of the
Western Union is not as sunny
as it might be. On this matter,
the spirit of cooperation has not
improved noticeably since the
French first launched their idea
for an organized European arm
ament industry in the course of
the nine-power meeting in Lon
don last October.
Sought as Companion Unit.
At that time, Mr.. Mendes-
France asked for general agree
ment in principle for setting up
arms production authority to act
as a sort of companion organisa-
ton with the Western Unions
ornaments control agency. While
the latter was to assign quotas
and set ceilings for standing
forces within the community, the
production agency would have
the job of working out manufac-
turing programs for ornaments.
standardizing equipment. placing
orders in the name of the COM
munity and distributing the I'M
isled weapons.
No ornaments manufacture,
said Mr., Mendes- France, was to
be Permitted beyond the authors
cation of the agency, whose au-
thority would be limited to
continental Europe (i.e., exclud-
ing Britain and French territory
in North Africa. As he saw it.
the production agency would also
take charge of distributing arms
delivered to the community UNI
der the American aid program.
as had bee,f proposed under edo.
From the beginning, the pro-
posal was looked on as some kind
of French trick. There was frank
suspicion of Mr.. Wendes- Frances
good faith at London. The tend
ency was to dismiss the arms
pool as a new roadblock thrown
in the way of a German rearma-
ment, q new preliminary con-
dition" to French agreement, and
possibly a new excuse for last
minute stab in the back OF the
French Premier.
Apart from this. the Dutch and
Belgians saw little in the pro-.
posal except a willy scheme TO
strange their own infant avia-
ton industry for the benefit OF
the French. To the British, it
all sounded suspicious1y supra
national. For his part, Secretary
of State Dulles made 1t clear
that, whatever the United States
might have been willing to do
under edo, this Government
would reserve the right to give
arms to any nation it pleased.
Plan Called Too Complex
The upshot was that Mr..
Mendes- France was turned down
firmly and none too gently in
London. For the record. it was
pointed out that the French
plan was far too complex and
ambitious to justify agreement.
even in principle. in such a hur-
ry. For all his arguing. the best
the Premier could get was the
promise to talk it over again in
January, by which time every
one hoped fervently that French
ratification of the London agree
ments would be well under way.
Since then, the situation has
been changed in two important
ways. In the first place. the
French Assembly. after q debate
in which the hope Of an arms
pool emerged as a powerful fac
tor, approved Western Union and
German rearmarnent by a mar
row margin. S Secondly. the
French government has now
elaborated and considerably re-
vised its original plan.
A memorandum. circulated to
the member governments few
days ago. outlined what the
French hope will form the basis