NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE question of a German Army, urged so often in recent weeks by the wrong people and for the wrong motives, appeared in its right context in the statement issued on Tuesday by the Foreign Ministers of Britain, France and the United States. It has now been unequivocally established that the defence of Germany against aggression from the East is intended, that this defence is for the time being the concern of the Occupying Powers, and that the part which Germans ultimately play in their own defence is one which cannot yet be laid down. The expected authorisation of an armed mobile police force gives Dr. Adenauer the immediate provision for internal security which he had demanded, but it has been made clear that there is no question of reviving the Wehrmacht, which is desad by none of the Allied Governments nor the Germans them- selves, and for which, in any case, the resources do not exist. It will be a good thing if the Foreign Ministers' statement succeeds in laying the ghost of the " German Army," for recently this term has been the occasion for much misconceived bargaining. There is no suggestion that the creation of an army should be the reward for German participation in the society of Europe, nor that admis- sion as an equal in the councils of Europe should be held up as a reward for the creation of German divisions. The gradual rehabili- tation of Germany is being proceeded with as it would have been if there had been no threat from the East. The next stages of German rehabilitation depend upon the pace of Europe's own integration. The idea of a European army has attractions Yvhich the British Government is inclined to underrate, as they have con- sistently underrated the force behind other manifestations towards greater European unity. But it is hard to see what sense can be made out of the resurrection of Germany or our own greater com- mitments on the Continent, unless they are soon all made to fit into some framework of European co-operation more real than any which at present exists.
