The Umbrella

Last week in Brussels, Ernest Bevin's dream of Western Union was taking on some hard outlines of reality. Delegates to a five-nation meeting (Britain, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxemburg) moved rapidly toward a defensive alliance against Russia. By mid-March, the delegates' work would be presented to their Foreign Ministers who were expected to sign an "umbrella treaty," to keep Western Europe out of the Red rain. The Czech crisis had speeded up the fusion of Europe's democratic forces.

This week in London, labor representatives from 13 countries (including the U.S.) were meeting to lay plans for cooperation under the European Recovery Program. Late this month, a conference of European socialist leaders will meet in Britain to talk over the chances of one socialist economy for Western Europe.

"Ensuring Our Security." In a speech to Belgium's Chamber of Deputies, Premier Paul-Henri Spaak explained what this activity was all about. (Wits in London call Western Union "Spaakistan.") Said he:

"Eastern Europe is politically, militarily and economically organized. I do not criticize; I observe a state of affairs. . . . But then I say, you [Communists] have accomplished this organization, this union. Naturally, you will see no good reason why we should not do the same thing ourselves. . . . The policy which the Russians uphold and approve in Eastern Europe cannot, naturally, be simultaneously a matter for worry when practiced in Western Europe. . . .

"It seems to me absolutely impossible," he added, "to conceive today of a defense of Belgium limited to the frontiers of Belgium. We must take advantage of the permission given us by the U.N. Charter to organize a regional defensive pact ensuring our security. . . ."

To draw up this pact, delegates of the five nations met next morning in the Green Room of the Foreign Ministry. Within 90 minutes they reached substantial agreement. France, which has feared to come down hard on the U.S. side in the East-West struggle, and Britain, always reluctant to make a military commitment on the Continent, no longer hesitated.

The final treaty would also include economic clauses. France and Italy have been discussing plans for a customs union for five months, will soon sign an agreement on economic cooperation. The Benelux countries have already set up a common customs system. But Britain, staking her economic future on imperial arrangements in the Commonwealth and Empire, has held back from economic merger with continental countries.

Clash of Economies. Last week Spaak said bluntly that he did not think the Western nations have done enough to blend their economies in selfhelp. "All the Western European powers have been practicing a fairly individualistic, not to say selfish, economic policy. We have all tried to save ourselves in very different ways. Some have pursued a policy of austerity [Britain], others a policy of abundance [Belgium], or dirigisme [The Netherlands]. Others, in their search for recovery, do not hesitate to fling themselves into purely monetary manipulations [France].

"All this is not convergent. All this is fairly divergent, and, I should add, often contradictory. All this has meant that in recent months political economies, instead of supporting and helping each other, have clashed. And measures adopted in one or the other country have profoundly troubled the economy of the others.

"In these circumstances, it is necessary to speak frankly. We must decide if, when we speak of economic collaboration and understanding, we really mean to enter the domain of realities, or if we just want to hypnotize ourselves with words."

All the delegates in Brussels last week were keenly aware that whatever firm agreements, military or economic, they reached among themselves and their neighbors, these first steps toward union would stumble into futility unless they had energetic U.S. support--including a U.S. military guarantee of Western Europe's defensive alliance.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.