Forcing The Pace
From SARAH GAINHAM
BONN
THE Russians are not the only opportunists trying to benefit from the eclipse of the United States. President de Gaulle, as seen from Bonn, is seizing the chance to force the pace of European federation of national states—his alternative to a supranational governmental 'body; and this involves yet another strenuous .Journey for the aged Chancellor Adenaeur to No doubt there is much to be done; but a .meeting had already been arranged flar the early autumn; and a State visit of the French President to Bonn a long-desired event. Government officials make no secret of their feeling, even if their chief is too realist to allow such a feeling to influence him, of something approaching resent- Ment that the French President did not choose to waive protocol (he is Head of State while Adenauer technically is not) and, at least come half-way to meet his friend. After all, it is mur- mured, discreetly .on what the Germans call the diplomatic parquet (the press says it openly), it was the French who urged the meeting so hastily. But it is not .the nature of Charles de Gaulle to meet anyone half-way. MY own guess, which is still only a guess, is that Chancellor Adenauer went to Paris because if he did not confer at once with the French President a public suggesti9n would have been Made unilaterally from Paris that a permanent secretariat of foreign service officials should be established to serve constant meetings of their chiefs—the start of a -little-European fedefation separate from the Common Market. It is known here that Hallstein's ambitions envisaged a politi- cal development from 'his' Common Market organisation in Brussels That this design has been scotched by the French, though it give,s rise ,t9 very serious worries here, is on a superficial Le.vel greeted with a certain amount of satisfac- tion, for Hallstein is not a popular man. The • k reach President is seen from Bonn as designing a new and more definite organisation in which French prestige will be paramount—as it could not be if it grew from a partnership of six votes in which Germany is France's economic equal, if not her superior.
The fundamental change of French foreign policy which the friendship with Germany and the Common Market represent must be firmly established and made unreversible now before a new American President can reassert his country's claim to the leadership of Europe. If de Gaulle gets his way the Third Force, so often flirted with and so often rejected as a practical proposition, may become fact. The urgency of the matter for France is the fear that a fuse has been lit in Africa which could make the holding of North Africa, and with it the Saharan oil, a military affair which the French Army will not be able to handle alone The Germans, though they undoubtedly desire dose friendship with France, cannot be single- minded about it. Germany is militarily depen- dent on the United States, whatever certain sec- tions of the British press may wish the public in England to believe. The threat to Berlin is a real threat; Germany cannot afford to be involved in any situation which could earn her the label of aggressor, for that would be the signal for a Communist move against Berlin with a clear moral backing. And the fall of Berlin would be a prelude to the disintegration of Germany.
Moreover, German industrialists have lately begun to join bankers in a growing wish for economic friendship with Great Britain. Mingled with the cocky pleasure that France is now Ger- many's friend, there is a strong and deep feeling against any kind of enmity for the British. It is mainly based on self-interest, but it has an irrational and emotional side amounting to the almost superstitious belief that the great disasters of this century have happened because the Ger- mans and the British could not uciderstaral each other, and that a continuation of that hostility could lead to another disaster. However little this is . grounded in the realities of strategy in the nuclear age, it cannot be ignored.
The self-interest, on the other hand, is well grounded. With all her mistakes, Britain's record in Asia and Africa is better than anybody else's and her influence in the undeveloped countries is great. For the first time the German, public has been made aware of this by constant African guests on the most-viewed television programme, a Sunday morning round-table of foreign journal- ists chaired by Werner Hoefer, who is a unique TV personality here. The respect and friendliness of these coloured guests towards Britain have sur- prised Germans who up to now have thought of the British as top-hatted colonial bullies with whips in their fists. If German industry is to expand—or, to use the current cant, if Germany is to play a part in helping the backward nations —it can only be with British co-operation.
Chancellor Adenauer has come round to this vieW himself, to some extent persuaded by indus- trialists' and bankers' arguments. For a man of his age he shows remarkably little sense of urgency and he was willing, in his cautious fashion, to let the Common Market act as a spur to induce the lackadaisical British to make up their minds. What Dr. Adenauer wants is pros- perity, peace at almost any price, and the unity Gf Europe—in that order. For these aims he needs the shield of the American Air Force, the assur- ance of NATO co-operation, and the passive, if not active, goodwill of the British. What de Gaulle wants is French grandeur and the leader- ship of Europe for his country at almost any price; with prosperity and peace well in the rear, and taken for granted So the American Air Force leaves France; NATO is constantly nibbled at, American leadership must be challenged and England actually isolated while being apparently included in some consultative body whose, real purpose will be to conceal French domination of little-Europe.
Previous page
