12 JULY 1930, Page 2

On July 4th the Dutch Government also accepted the French

invitation to the Conference on Federal Union, at the same time sharply criticizing the scheme because of (a) its subordination of the economic to the political problem (b) its legalistic phrasing about" absolute sovereignty " which, as the ordinary person sees, is incompatible with normal international relations to-day. Probably the British Government's reply will follow closely these lines. Undoubtedly the movement towards European unity is gathering momentum. We hear of a considered scheme of social, economic and cultural co-ordination which is to be explained by a distinguished Hungarian Professor of Economies at the Inter-Parliamentary Conference beginning next week.