Word: schuman
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...Paris this week delegates from France, Western Germany, Italy and the Benelux nations gather in the august Salon de I'Horloge of the French Foreign Ministry. Their task is to hammer out an agreement which will give substance to Robert Schuman's bold plan for pooling Western Europe's coal and steel industries. To most of the delegates it means the practical beginning of an undertaking which in the past has been little more than an oratorical flourish: Western Europe's union. But above the hopeful voices in Paris was audible a disturbing buzz-the voice...
...French themselves faced risks in proposing the Schuman Plan. Many Frenchmen (including the owners of the French steel industry) feared that, under the Schuman Plan, Germany would outproduce and outsell France, and thus regain a huge military advantage. France, overcoming her traditional fears, had in effect told the West that, in order to win, it was necessary to take a chance...
...Verbal Misunderstanding." France, Italy, West Germany and the Benelux countries had announced that they were ready to start talks to implement the Schuman Plan. The British had grudgingly agreed to send delegates to these talks. But when the French suggested that the participating nations issue a joint communiqué stating the purposes of the talks (i.e., to merge Western Europe's coal and steel industries under an international authority), the British refused; they argued that this would mean an advance commitment to the plan. In its best diplomatic manner, France's Foreign Ministry announced that a slight "verbal...
Frank Admission. Beneath this diplomatic squabble, which seemed concerned merely with formalities, was a deep and real conflict. As in most other recent instances when Britain was urged to participate in measures toward Western European integration, the Labor government was afraid that the Schuman Plan would interfere with its planned economy. In the past, British leaders have tended to deny or at least to evade the charge that the Labor Party's national socialism stood in the way of British cooperation with Europe. Last week some Labor spokesmen were more frank. Wrote Wilfred Fienburgh, the Labor Party...
This attitude was not confined to the Labor Party-nor to Britain. In any country, unemployment resulting from the closing of any inefficient nationally protected factory would call forth a sharp reaction against the Schuman Plan. The leaders of France, Italy, West Germany and Benelux understood that danger as well as the British did. It was significant that the others were willing to go ahead and explore the risky ground, while Britain's planners hung back...