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

740.00/7–952

No. 56
Memorandum by the Acting Deputy Director of the Office of Western European Affairs (Knight) to the Deputy Director of the Office of European Regional Affairs (Parsons)

secret

Washington, July 9, 1952.

Subject:

• French Proposal to Set up a European Political Authority

Just in case I do not have the opportunity to discuss this problem with you before I go off on leave at the end of this week, I would like to mention my concern over the possibility that we may be “drifting” in connection with the French proposal to set up a European political authority. As you may remember from the time when we discussed this problem in the Steering Group before the Secretary’s trip to Bonn and Paris,¹ I was then worried that the so-called Eden Plan to bring the Schuman Plan and EDC institutions within the framework of the Council of Europe might act as a deterrent to the development of strong, vigorous six-nation institutions. Indeed, the close connection of various groups of institutions will tend to result in the lowest common denominator of effectiveness and of real power.

The foreign office memorandum to Eden transmitting to him the French memorandum further increases my fears, as this memorandum seems to be a candid acknowledgement that the British aim is to deter the creation of a strong unified political unit on the continent which might conceivably constitute a threat for the UK in the foreseeable future.

I believe that about a year ago we definitely crossed the bridge as to whether we would allow ourselves to be deterred by this potential danger and that the definite conclusion was that we should not allow ourselves to be so restrained in our support of a real European federation even though the membership be restricted and even though there was the possibility that Germany might eventually become in fact the dominating element therein.

If the above is correct, I think that we should review our present position in relation to the so-called Eden proposal because our support thereof would appear to be in contradiction with our basic position as outlined above. If there is any disagreement, I think we should push for re-examination of this entire problem and as quickly as possible arrive at a firm Department position. While we are all agreed as to the necessity of tying in the EDC, etc., within a larger framework, there probably is some disagreement as to the extent thereof as a precondition to pushing ahead with the implementation of the continental unit.

To repeat myself, I am basically afraid that by coasting along with the Eden proposal we may be maneuvering ourselves in a position in which we could no longer vigorously support the creation on the continent of a strong political federation without the UK. The latter feature is, of course, not a desirable one but does not depend on us.

1. The Steering Group under reference was formed in order to prepare background papers for Acheson’s meetings with European leaders during his May 1952 trip to Bonn for the signing of the Contractual Agreements and to Paris for the signing of the Treaty Establishing a European Defense Community. The series of background papers drafted by the Steering Group are in Conference files, lot 59 D 95, CF 108–110.