Page View
Information bulletin
(June 1951)
German, US press look at Schuman plan, pp. 53-54
PDF (1.2 MB)
Page 53
German, US Press -Loo at Schuman Plan rp HE REACTION of the German I press to the Federal Republic's participation in the Schuman Plan* was a mixed one, with the hopeful and optimistic hailing the coal and steel merger as the greatest step thus far toward a united, federated Western Europe. However, this optimism was dampened by the condemnatory edi- torial voices of a number of elements. Bavaria's Passauer Neue Presse saw the single market idea as the end of the long standing animosity between France and Germany, bringing the European countries together in com- mon destiny. In the opinion of the East-West border city paper, the eco- nomic union therefore is "a real peace treaty which provides the prerequi- sites for the unity of Europe and the foundation for a Western defense union against the East." Frankfurt's Allgemeine Zeitung wrote The parliaments 4 nations - France, many, Italy, the N( gium and Luxembou called upon to ratil Plan and thus mal law. Since May 9, Robert Schuman, the minister, announce! posals for pooling steel industries of I many, together wit} interested Europea - and April 18, 1 Schuman Plan Trei by the foreign mini! ticipating countries, has taken varied sti its. In these colun section of press coI ern Germany and th that "the idea of ci Unlite~d Europe had passed from a state of idealistic hope to urgent necessity forced upon u~s by political and eco- nomic developments. From this point of view," said the paper, "the Schuman Plan must be considered the. first practical step in the economic field to bring about union and uniformity in Europe." The Allgemeine declared that the time for narrow-minded interests had gone and no single national state but the whole of Europe was at stake. A NOTHER HESSIAN PAPER, the Frankfurter Rund- L schau, sanctioned the signing of the Plan by Chancel- lor Adenauer only as an economic basils on which the "European Counciil in Strasbourg can develop from a debating club into' an effective political instrument.. However, the paper warned that "whether April 18, 1951 (date of signature) will be celebrated in the future as the birthday of the Uniteid States of Europe, will depend not only on the Plan's ratification by the parliaments of the member states in six months' time, but on the practical economic operation of the steel and coal union." It will be years, the paper said, before "the plan can be in full operation. But, as Jetan Monnet said, 'to overcome the ob- structing frontiers in Europe, it is necessary now to put heart and mind to realization of this plan.'" The Munich Sueddeutsche Zeitung emphasized that German diplomats had exerted considerable influence on the forging of European unity, indicating that Chanlcellor Adenauer was now in a better position to deal with his political opposition than was previously the case. UJNE 1951 Df six European Western Ger- etherlands, Bel- irg - are being fy the Schuman ke its concepts 1950 - when e French foreign d France's pro- [ the coal and France and Ger- h those of other Ln governments 1951, when the aty was signed sters of the par- , the world press ands on its mer- ans is a cross- mment in West- Le United States. The Offenbach Post declared Europe will receive an entirely new face should it succeed in fulfilling the political and economic promises of the Plan. The Bremen Weser-Kurier thought Dr. Adenauer's optimism justified and that the refusal of the member nations' parliaments to ratify the Plan would constitute a catastrophe. B ERLIN'S DER TAG HELD that whatever sacrifices and risks the Plan may call for, the prospect of strengthening Europe makes them well worth accepting. However, two other of the island city's papers. Der Tele- graph antd Der Tagesspiegel, expressed concern that the agreement on the Schuman Plan may have been bought with concessions affecting the Saar and Eastern Germany. The dissenters included Dortmund's Westfaelische Rundschau, which blamed Dr. Adenauer for having signed the agreement against the will of the ma- jority of the West German population and with the inten- tion of creating a fait accompli which it would be difficult to change later by means of parliamentary procedure. It was joined by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) ad- vocate, Hannoversche Presse, which wrote that the "will for political anck economic stabilization in Europe as in- tended by the Schuman Plan depends in no small measure on the moral capacity of France ... on the honesty of France - and, foremost, on its willingness to abandon a policy which is governed by the spirit of exaggerated fear." Duesseldorf's Rhine Echo stressed the great responsi- bility the Germans had taken on their shoulders by making sacrifices for the conclusion of this union and expressed the hope that the eventual peace treaty and the Schumarr Plan will bring about social security for the working people of the Rhine-Ruhr area, because "with social ten- sion and unrest in this mining district, all fine European planning will be worthless." T HE EDITORIAL COLUMNS of America's leading news- papers were outspoken in their approval of the Plan and the action of the six member governments. Typical of this trend of opinion was The New York Times, which called the Schuman Plan "a functional approach to Euro- pean unification on the economic level." "This is a promising method," continued The Times, "of overcoming the difficulties that have bogged down *For a detailed review of the Schuman Plan, see Information Bulletin, April 1951 issue. INFORMATION BULLETIN 53
As a work of the United States government, this material is in the public domain.| For information on re-use see: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/Copyright