740.5/11–1351: Telegram
The Ambassador in Italy (Dunn) to the Embassy in France 1
243. Taviani, Under Secy for Fon Affairs, informed me today he is leaving for Paris tomorrow to attend the next meeting of the comite on the European Defense Force. He stated he did not think the EDF could be brought into being unless the US took an active role in forcing agreement on the outstanding issues. He pointed out that failure to create the EDF would probably mean no German mil contribution to NATO.
According to Taviani there are three proposals under consideration. The first amounts to European federation. The second which is advocated by Alphand would have national parliaments voting funds to be spent by a European organization. He believes that Schuman realizes that this plan is not practicable. The third proposal would be for national govts to provide units up to divisions with a command structure provided by national govts allocating funds to a central comite. In Taviani’s opinion only the first or third proposals are workable. The Ital Govt is committed to the first and will continue to press for federation, he considers that if this is not possible and he seems to [Page 917] believe that it is not now feasible, the US should actively support the last alternative. It is requested that every caution be taken to protect the source of this info.
- This telegram was repeated for information to the Department of State as 2127.↩