Word: oeec
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...Said OEEC's secretary general, Robert Marjolin of France: "It would be a vain task to attempt to write a new long-term program . . . until such time as the participating countries make certain fundamental political-economic changes . . . When these adjustments are made . . . without doubt we shall again decide to project in figures this mutuality of national policies ... To do it now would be pointless labor...
Thus was written off-or indefinitely postponed-what many had hoped would be the chief long-range result of U.S. aid to Western Europe. The OEEC turned its back on European integration to face a less important but more urgent task: how to become independent...
...Extravagant Wife. Sir Stafford Cripps, Britain's brilliant economic boss, was on hand for the OEEC talks. The U.S. Marshall Planners had told the European nations to get their financial houses in order, and Britain, once threatened with collapse, had done this better than any other. For this success, Sir Stafford praised his own brand of austerity, a controlled system of trade which combined high exports with low imports of consumer goods...
...Prudent Husband. Britain is now trying to buy most of what she needs from the sterling areas. She has reduced her dollar imports by 25%; the other major OEEC nations by only 15%.* Last week Cripps proposed that the others should make a further reduction of 10% to match Britain. At this point ECA's Averell Harriman, who had been itching to join the discussions, was invited in, and promptly threw his weight with the continental high-volume traders...
...final result was that each nation agreed to cut its dollar imports further, but would judge for itself how much to cut. This was billed as a compromise, but actually it was a victory for Cripps. For the next year or two, OEEC would let each nation seek recovery in its own way; in Britain's case that would mean continued efforts toward relative national self-sufficiency. That was what Cripps, the prudent husband, had been plugging for all along...