Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Western Europe and Canada, Volume VI, Part 1

740.00/9–2253

No. 177
Memorandum by William D. Fisher of the Office of Western European Affairs to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs (Bonbright)¹

secret

[Washington,] September 22, 1953.

Subject:

• French Position at Rome EPC Meeting²

Confused is the word for the situation surrounding the position on the EPC to be taken by the French delegation. A virtual battle within the Laniel cabinet has been taking place for several days over the basic EPC–EDC–federation issue, with the five ex-Gaullist ministers strongly opposing any instructions to the Rome delegation that would allow progress towards a supranational EPC to be made, with Tietgen of the MRP spearheading the other side of the fight and with Bidault, also of the MRP, trying to effect some compromise, apparently without too much success. His line seems to be that the time for a showdown fight on the supranational community is not now, such a fight might hinder EDC ratification “by the end of the year”, and might cause a definite split in the cabinet and bring on an earlier government crisis. He may also be thinking of Gaullist support for his candidacy for President.

Apparently the majority of the cabinet sided with Teitgen and did not accept Bidault’s compromise, but this is not clear. The press has mentioned that the instructions to the Rome delegation are highly secret and today the ticker reports that Pierre Juin, State Secretary at the Presidency, left suddenly for Rome to meet with the French delegation; one could speculate, perhaps to alter their instructions. French press speculation speaks of some compromise whereby the French delegation would support European elections but would sidestep the issue of the character of the European executive or that French agreement would be conditional, based upon subsequent parliamentary approval. In any event, this will be a troublesome issue within the French cabinet and, if resolved with some compromise for the Rome meeting, will probably come up again for the October 20 Ministers Meeting in The Hague.

1. Copies were also sent to Knight, Moore, Fessenden, Nunley, and Galloway.
2. The deputies of the Foreign Ministers of the six Schuman Plan countries met in Rome for a conference on the European Political Community, Sept. 22–Oct. 9. Telegraphic summaries of their meetings are in file 740.00. For information concerning the final report of the Rome Conference, see the memorandum by Sawyer and Camp, Oct. 13, infra.