740.5/2–452: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Bruce) to the Department of State 1
niact
4718. Eyes only for the Secretary. Deptel 4537, February 3, repeated info London 3659, Bonn 1394.2 I delivered Secretary’s ltr tonight to Schuman. He did not read it but said he wld do so in the course of [Page 24] the evening and discuss it with some of his close associates tomorrow and wld hope to give me an answer, on at least one of the items which demand immed attention, namely Saar problem, some time tomorrow, Tuesday.
He said his personal feeling was that polit future of Saar cld probably be settled more satisfactorily now than at a period a year or more later. He has several solutions in mind, one of which he may shortly propose to Eden and yourself. He is inclining toward some scheme for Europeanizing the territory and making it the seat of the Schuman Plan High Authority. He was careful to say that this was a personal opinion and one that he wld discuss with his colleagues. I referred to the hope expressed in your ltr that some announcement re a deliberation on this subj cld be made before the London mtg. He said he wld give me an answer on that tomorrow.
Mr. Schuman told me that he had talked to Eden about possibility of inviting Adenauer to London. He feels that such an invitation wld not be advisable until and unless the three occupying powers had reached an accord on outstanding questions. This he hoped might be possible on the first day, in which event you cld meet with Adenauer on the second or even the third day.
He expressed himself as being moderately optimistic over issue of outstanding questions. He is to see Berard later this evening and give him instructions for Francois-Poncet on security controls. He has not yet definitely decided what these instructions will be and will read your ltr before defining them.
He hopes that it will be possible during the French parliamentary debate on the EDC to avoid the imposition by parliamentarians of crippling restrictions and except for a few gen reservations to obtain approval in principle of the EDC conf’s work.