The Importance of Rumania Rumania continues to be one of
the keys of the European situation. If there is to be an effective defensive front in Eastern Europe Rumania and Poland must hold the fore- most places in it, with Russia in reserve in the rear. That mobilisation of effective force has not yet been achieved. Rumania has been guaranteed by Great Britain, but the guarantee is not, and is not intended to be, reciprocal. One important step that has been too long delayed is the formu- lation of effective plans for mutual support between Rumania and Poland. The sooner that task is taken in hand the better, and the Rumanian Foreign Minister, M. Gafencu, will no doubt take the matter up when he returns to Bucharest after his European pilgrimage. Having been to Berlin and London, Paris and Rome, he understands the general situation as well as any man, and indications of any new trend in Rumanian policy on his return will be signi- ficant, though there is no reason to doubt that all Rumania's sympathies are with the Western democracies. Sir Frederick Leith-Ross's negotiations for a trade agreement are taking longer than was expected, but the British Government has decided on a larger credit than the £5,000,000 it was originally intended to advance, and there is every reason to believe that an agreement valuable to both countries, with a new Anglo-Rumanian Corporation as the effective instru- ment, will in due course be negotiated; But the general position will not be satisfactory till Rumania shows herself a little more amenable in the matte,: of support from Russia.
