Editorial Note

On March 30, the SPD faction of the Paliamentary Council adopted a resolution concerning the March 2 memorandum of the Military Governors, which stressed the need for the immediate passage of the [Page 233] Basic Law approved by the Main Committee. The resolution stated inter alia that

“the SPD faction agrees on the decisions of the Committee of Seven which tend to take into account the proposals of the Allied Memorandum of 2 March 1949 insofar as this is compatible with the thoroughly considered German conception of the conditions of a Federal Government’s ability to function. The SPD faction is not in the position to transcend the proposals of the Committee of Seven.”

On the same day the CDU/CSU faction of the Parliamentary Council adopted its own resolution on the March 2 memorandum, stating that the Committee of Seven had achieved satisfactory solutions to eight of the objections raised by the Military Governors, leaving only the finance problem to be solved. The CDU faction could not justify rejection of the Basic Law over this one issue, and it therefore believed that it should prepare new proposals which took into consideration German interests and which would secure approval of the Military Governors.

For the texts of these resolutions, see Documents on the German Federal Constitution, page 114.