The Tangier Agreement
At last the Spanish Government has been ordered to quit the international zone of Tangier, which it seized in 1940 and brought under exclusively Spanish control on the transparent pretext of pre- serving its neutrality. This lawless occupation of the zone has only been allowed to persist so long because many nations have interests in it, and it was necessary to reach agreement between the principal Powers concerned. This has been arrived at by the conference of representatives of Great Britain, the United States, Russ'a and France held in Paris. In the first place, an international administra- tion based on the provisions of the Statute of 1923 and the Protocol of 1928 will be restored, but Russia and America participate in it. This is only an interim arrangement. The clumsiness of the procedure of government had long been recognised, and would doubtless have been dealt with earlier if it had not been for the war. For a final settlement it is proposed to call a conference of the signatories of the Act of Algeciras of 1906, originally twelve in number ; but there are no German or Austro-Hungarian govern- ments in existence, and Spain, it has been decided, will not be in- cluded if General Franco is still in power. There are obvious reasons why a Government which was responsible for the brigand seizure of Tangier should not be invited, but it would be unwise to exclude a Spanish Government simply on the ground of its political colour. The conference which will determine the ultimate destiny of Tangier will have interesting possibilities before it. The international regime in the port only worked indifferently well in the past, but the idea, and the practice, of international action has developed fast in the last six years, and its practicability is the basis of the whole of the structure built at San Francisco. The Security Council may be expected to acquire strategic bases, or the use of strategic bases, at various vital points in the world, and Tangier may well be one of them. What effect that would have on Gibraltar is a' question to be discussed when the occasion arises.
