740.5/1–1552: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Bruce) to the Department of State 1
4204. I am inclined to believe, despite the present unsettled governmental situation in France, that there wld be little gained by postponing Lisbon mtg beyond Feb 16, which in fact is date commonly believed here to have been agreed upon fol French request for postponement.
Date shld of course ideally allow not only formation of new govt but also final agreement on EDC at Ministers level and general confirmation by Natl Assembly of Fr adherence to principles EDC, as then agreed. I am in no position to predict that all these things, or indeed any of them, will come about by Feb 16 and it does appear reasonable to suppose, however, that new govt will have been in office by then for sufficient time to approve those EDC arrangements and undertakings which I hope will have been made on ad referendum basis by Pleven and Schuman acting as caretakers. Whether Parliamentary debate EDC will have taken place by that time, and whether its outcome will have been clearly favorable, is matter on which it is impossible at this time to conjecture.
As crisis lengthens, importance of pending international decisions and need for France to be prepared for Lisbon can be expected to weigh increasingly in favor of settlement of other issues. Fact remains, however, that despite efforts of most responsible politicians to speed up resolution of crisis by pointing to Lisbon and EDC deadlines, average Deputy (and man in the street in general) appears barely affected by foreign policy considerations in connection with crisis so far.
[Page 4]One of the many unfavorable results of the present drift due to absence of govt is that preparation cannot take place for foreign policy debate that was to have taken place starting Jan 29, as requested by Assembly Foreign Affairs Comite. Considerable advance preparation will be required, and much ventilation of EDC in Parliamentary and political party circles, if new govt is to come through EDC debate safely. Time which shld have been devoted to public and press debate on EDC has been absorbed by discussions centering around political crisis and formation of new govt.
- Repeated for information to London (for Spofford), Lisbon, and Ottawa.↩