I have been sent the full text of the latest
of the periodical broadcast conversations between the Spectator's German cor- respondent, Ernst Friedlaender, and the German Chancellor. Since it took place last week it naturally turned on the post- ponement of the third reading debate on the Bill approving the contractual agreements and the European Defence Treaty. Dr. Adenauer insisted that that procedure would in the end actually save time instead of wasting it, and emphasised the fact that his own attitude on the treaties had not changed in any res- pect. " I stand," he said, " by the treaties; I stand by my European policy." More interesting, if less intrinsically important, were some observations Dr. Adenauer made about procedure in the Bundestag. " We have got a Government," he said, " with .no experience of opposition, and an Opposition with no experience of government. In the older democracies every Minister once sat on the Opposition benches, and every Opposition leader was once a Minister. That makes for restraint and mutual understanding. In the Federal Republic things are more difficult." Time, however, will cure that.
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