Evening star., 1959-11-30
Quit, BritOns Urged

QulL, DEltOllS OEBCu
Once again. despite the plead
ing of such defenders as former
Secretary of State Dean Ache
son, the tree not only had been
dug up and its roots re-eXam-
ined anew, the roots themselves
have been found severely de-
fective by some.
Quit NATO," Britons were
advised recently by the London
Daily Express. What reality
can there be in the NATO al
lance when one set of partners
are sworn enemies of the aims
pursued by the other partners?
All the wiles Of delay, all the
blocking tactics of diplomacy
have been modified against
Britain's project for a summit
meeting. And the leaders in
the policy Of procrastination
are Britain's NATO allies. Gen.
de Gaulle and DR.. Adenauer."
Some Misgivings
Not everyone in England,
fortunately. is as grumpy about
the general state of affairs as
the Daily Express publisher
Lord Beaverbrook. But though
his less choleric countrymen
might not agree that Britain
would be well advised to move
out of NATO altogether" there
are not a few of them with sin
cere misgivingS about the po-
litical and economic turnings
within the North Atlantic area
The furry of visits between
London, Paris and Bonn within
the last few weeks has pro-
duced some improvement in
the diplomatic atmosphere. but
little has been done to narrow
the real differences over the
proper approach to a meeting
with Russia's Nikita S. Khru-
shchev.
Whatever MISUNDERSTANDING
may be removed. it still remains
that West German Chancellor
Adenauer and French Presi-
dent de Gaulle are funda-
mentally opposed to reopening
negotiations limited to Berlin
and Germany from fear of con-
cessions damaging to the inter-
ests of the West.
Economies Tied In
It remains no less sure that
Prime Minister Macmillan
favors such negotiations in the
hope of working out at least
an interim settlement without
paying an unacceptable price.
And since this difference in
wolves the whole question of
European security. it inevitably
concerns the leaders of the
alliance.
Solution of the summit prob
lem would be easier if it were
not so closely tied up with the
developing political and eco
nomic struggle in Western
Europe. In a sense, the bicker-
ing over an approach to Mr.
Khrushchev is only the symp-
tom of this deeper underlying
rivalry between Britain on the
one hand and France and Ger
many on the other for leader
ship of the continent.
This rivalry, if anything,
threatens to become more Sc
rious as time goes on. At last
years NATO meeting, the spirit
of good fellowship so carefully
cultivated on such occasions
was marred by the first angry
disputes over the formation of
the European Common Market
At the time, the British were
making a futile, last-ditch stand
to prevent the formation of the
six nation continental union
which, they feared, threatened
to split the Atlantic community
and confront outsiders with dis
asterous economic competition.
Today, with the Common
Market in operation for nearly
a year and the British-led Euro
pean Free Trade Association
formally established this month.
Europe is still very much at
skies and sevens over the pos
sibility of a full-fledged trade
war between the rival groups.
No amount of polite reassur-
ance on either side has been
able to Danish the specter. At