Dr. Adenauer's Troubles
Tuesday's proceedings in the Bundestag are to be deplored so far as they threaten to open a rift, or widen whatever rift already existed, between Germany and France, but no blame attaches to Dr. Adenauer's Govern- ment in respect of either of the two subjects discussed, the date of the debate on the European Defence Community treaty and the denunciation of the elections in the Saar. The vote on the former question seems to have been largely the result of an unexpected snap division, though the fact that ten members of the Free Democratic Party, which is part of Dr. Adenauer's coalition, voted against the Government is rather a serious matter for the Chancellor. The date of the debate on the Treaty was to have been settled by the so-called Council of • Elders, but they failed to agree, and the question therefore had to be settled t y the Bundestag, a situation being thus created of which, whether they were anticipating it or not, the Socialists and their allies took full advantage. The vote can, and presumably will, be reversed. The discussion on the Saar was a very different matter. Here all parties, except the Communists, were at one, and there was good reason why they should be. Elections are free in Western Germany, they are free in France, freedom has been resolutely withheld in the Saar. The pro-German parties, who recognise the case for an economic union with France but are fighting, very naturally and reasonably, against any tendency towards a closer political union, are proscribed. Democratic freedom is denied. It is perfectly true that the Landtag about to be elected will be unrepresentative. There is hopeful talk of making the Saar the seat of the administration of the projected European Defence Union and " Europeanising " the territory. The con- versations on that between M. Schuman and Dr. Adenauer may be resumed, and may lead somewhere, but the decision to hold the Saar elections now, and under the unfair conditions created by the Saar Government, is not calculated to promote their success.
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