840.20/3–2053: Telegram
No. 249
The Ambassador in France (Dillon) to the
Department of State
priority
5151. For Agriculture, Ministers of Agriculture of CSC six held unimportant preliminary Green Pool information session Paris 14 March. Plenary session convened sixteenth, Spain admitted as seventeenth member. Netherlands held to over-all integration and high authority principle. As predicted (Embassy Despatch 1931, March 13, 19531) meeting chairman Minister of Agriculture Laurens supported German proposal for series commodity agreements backed by Belgium and Italy. Several members French delegation extremely pessimistic over meeting outcome. Expect nothing tangible, only more committees and meetings.
French farm organization contacts anticipate no important results. Predict resolution giving Council of Ministers authority to continue studies and propose conference later date.
Same source reports Minister Foreign Affairs issued instructions to definitely oppose supra-national authority for Green Pool.
Although meeting still in session, contacts generally agreed meeting failure will be due to Minister of Agriculture Laurens’ negative position (Embassy Despatch 1469, January 12, 1953, page 112) and lack of French support constructive proposals.
Monnet Plan official stated backstage operations Patronat responsible for killing present move toward European agricultural integration.
- Not printed; it reported to the Department of State that the French would recommend a series of commodity agreements to the Mar. 16 plenary Green Pool meeting rather than an overall integration plan for European agricultural markets. (840.20/3–1353)↩
- Not printed; it summarized policy and program developments in French agriculture in 1952 and French plans for 1953. On the page cited here was a description of the French Government’s current policy toward agricultural integration. (851.20/1–1253)↩