Western European Union

» I 'HE significance of the agreements recently concluded at I the London and Paris Conference is made clear when we ■*• try to imagine what the international situation might now be like without them. Last August, the fate of the European Defence Community was sealed by the adverse vote in the French National Assembly. The collapse of that project, which had been an integral part of our military and political planning for over two years, created a widespread feeling of doubt and despair. The solidarity of the Western Powers was shaken and unity of purpose gave way temporarily to discord and even recrimination. Indeed, it was thought by some that the whole basis of our Atlantic alliance had been undermined. Worst of all, perhaps, the idealism which had supported the European Defence Community as a step in the direction of a truly united Europe, was in danger of giving way to disillusion. In Western Germany in particular there was a danger that such disillusion would give extremist elements an opportunity to make mischief. The bleakness of this outlook was considerably increased by the fact that the Western Powers had pinned their hopes on the European Defence Community and had not worked out any alternative solution. It was feared that to do so, even in secret, would weaken confidence in the existing EDC project and so decrease its chances of acceptance. Often in the course of history the roots of important international developments are found in quiet preparations that go on unnoticed, long before those developments make their public appearance. The surprising fact in this case, however, is that the complex preparations which culminated in the London and Paris agreements did not begin until the EDC Treaty had actually been rejected, only seven weeks before the Nine Powers met in London

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• A Selected Bibliography on Regionalism and Regional Arrangements

  Open Access•Norman J Padelford•International Organization•1956

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