NEWS OF THE WEEK
IT was in accordance with a policy that has been emphatically stated by General de Gaulle that the French should raise objec- tions to the creation of central administrative machinery in Berlin for dealing with German finance, transport, communications, foreign trade and industry. In consequence the preparatory work of the Allied Control Council has been brought to a standstill. The French point of view is a quite intelligible one. In three wars France has suffered from the existence of a unified militarist Germany. She now sees under Allied control four Germanies coming into being under four different administrations, each showing some signs of settling down as a separate entity ; and it is not unnatural that she should ask to wait and see how this works, and not prejudge the issue by fixing on the four areas a unity which, after all, the inhabitants may not desire. In his talk to 300 journalists at Brussels last week General de Gaulle disclaimed any idea of annexation of western German territory by France, but he did insist on the importance of setting up an international control of the industrial Ruhr. Here he was on strong ground. He was also justified in maintaining that France, occupying the position that she does in Europe, must be associated in decisions about the whole European settlement, and has her part to play in a "western family" which, in organising itself as it must, will do no more harm to a European organisation than that will do to a world organisation. Clearly he foresees western Germany being gradually and naturally drawn into the family of the west, just as, equally obviously, Russian statesmen see eastern Germany being drawn into a family of the east, though the latter think more exclusively in terms of spheres of influence. On the simple merits of the case, there is a good deal to be said for not forcing unity upon Germany prematurely ; none the less there are some common services, such as transport, which are essential to her existence. Even if there were four Germanies, it would still be undesirable that these should be separated by economic barriers ; and it would be disastrous if Allied efforts to break down such barriers were frustrated.
