No. 631
Editorial Note
From October 15 to October 25, continuous efforts were made by the United States and the United Kingdom, acting through their Embassies in Paris and Bonn and in a personal discussion by Eden with Schuman on October 20 at Paris, to obtain Franco-German agreement on a statement that would allow the postponement of the Saar Landtag elections. Despite these efforts agreement was not reached and the Governments of France and the Federal Republic issued a joint communiqué on October 25 declaring their failure. The elections were held on November 30 and the pro-German parties were barred from participation. Documentation on these events is in file 762.022.
Serious discussion of the Saar between the Federal Republic and France did not begin again until the end of February 1953 at the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Schuman Plan countries which was held at Rome, February 24–25, when Adenauer and the new French Foreign Minister, Bidault, considered the question.