Strasbourg Spasm
The recent short session of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, which was mainly conspicuous for the protest of Mr. Alfred Robens against the suggestion that Britain is holding up the progress of European defence, also produced short debates on the relationship between the Council and 0.E.E.C. and on the draft constitution for a politi- cal community. At no point did it appear that solid and useful contributions were being made. In the matter of defence the E.D.C. treaty is meeting with difficulties everywhere; in the - matter of economic co-operation 0.E.E.C. fs obviously capable of going its own way without much reference to Strasbourg; and in the matter of the proposed political com- munity there is a positive danger of a growing division between the six countries of "Little Europe" who are sponsoring it and the nine other nations of the Council of Europe. Mr. Robens's impatience in the face of this flood of incomplete schemes was completely understandable, for the main pillar ' of European unity is still the North Atlantic Treaty Organisa- tion, to which Britain makes a much bigger contribution than any continental country. But the forces which are sponsoring the various Communities—coal and steel, defence and political—have still to be reckoned with. They are the next most impressive positive factor in Western Europe after - N.A.T.O., and nobody has yet suggested a better way of making use of West Germany's military potential than that of including German elements in a common West European army. It is therefore essential to try to avoid the clash between actual and practical defence measures and the various projects of Little Europe. But it is very difficult to do it in the face of utterly unhelpful criticisms of British policy such as those contained in the speech by M. Reynaud which provoked Mr. Robens to his brusque rejoinder. If Britain is to be brought into closer association with Europe she must be persuaded into it by the clear hope of practical success—not pinpricked into it.
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