No. 685
Editorial Note
On May 11 and 14, Schumann and Hallstein discussed the question of the Saar at Paris. At the first meeting, Hallstein transmitted a letter to Schumann which stated that the Germans accepted the van Naters report with the exception of Article 19 (guarantee of the settlement). A report on the meeting was transmitted in telegram 4326 from Paris (762.022/5–1154), while the text of the letter was transmitted in telegram 3458 from Bonn, May 11 (762.022/5–1154). At the meeting on May 14, which the Embassy in Paris described as encouraging, further progress was made and Hallstein and Schumann agreed to hold further discussions at Strasbourg the following week during the meeting of the Council of Europe. (Telegram 3493 from Paris, May 16, 762.022/5–1654)
In between these two meetings, the United States–United Kingdom working group on the Saar held two meetings in Paris under the chairmanship of British Minister Riley and agreed on the texts of three documents. The first was an explanatory memorandum giving the reasons for arriving at a Saar settlement; the second was a revised U.S.–U.K. brief on the Saar; and the third was an interpretive protocol on Article 12 of the van Naters report. Texts of the first and third documents were transmitted in telegrams 4362 and 4363 from Paris, May 14, 762.022/5–1454. A report on the work of the working group was transmitted in telegram 4361 from Paris, May 14. (762.022/5–1454)