Mr. Dulles and Europe
A new American Secretary of State's first statement of policy is necessarily an event of some importance. Mr. Dulles has not always spoken with great wisdom „on foreign affairs. A speech he made last month as Secretary of State-Designate aroused no great hopes. In his broadcast speech on Monday he was a little limited in that, since he is about to come to Europe and see things for himself, pronouncements on the situation in Europe would be rather premature. But he spoke unequivo- cally about the need for European unity, addressing his exhorta- tions impartially to Britain, France and Germany. This country, it may be claimed, needs them least. We are, within the limits of our resources, supporting N.A.T.O. quite as zealously as the United States is doing. There is no serious question of Britain, France and Germany going, as Mr. Dulles put it, their several ways, but the ratification by France and Germany of the European Defence Treaty, which they have both of them signed, is a matter of capital importance. If Mr. Dulles can by discreet pressure—any suggestion that financial aid from America was dependent on -the adoption of a particular policy by European States would have to be advanced with peculiar discretion —stimulate the Governments at Paris and Bonn to action he will have done much for the peace of the world. The indomitable efforts of Dr. Adenauer to secure ratification by Germany amply deserve success, even if they do not achieve it, and the surprisingly large majority in the French Assembly on Tuesday in favour of rearmament generally, subject to the by no means inadmissible modifications the French desire to make in the Defence Treaty, is another development encouraging so far as it goes. Mr. Dulles will be visiting Europe at an interesting juncture. He may be able to give a valuable impetus to movements already in train.
Previous page
