Editorial Note
In accordance with the decision of the Interim Committee taken at the meeting of March 4 (see footnote 2, page 755), the EDC Juridical Committee met for some 40 hours between March 5 and 21 to discuss and redraft the protocols to the EDC Treaty proposed by the French Government. The Juridical Committee was unable, because of the pressure of time, to do more than hold preliminary discussions on the protocol to Article 13.
On March 23, the Interim Committee took up the report of the Juridical Committee, and the following day, after further discussion and negotiation on the protocols to all articles, including Article 13, the French, German, Belgian, and Luxembourg Delegations agreed to present a text of the protocol to Article 13 to their respective governments recommending approval, while the Italian and Netherlands Delegations agreed to submit the text of the protocol with no recommendation for either approval or disapproval. The texts of the protocols to the other five articles were also accepted and were to be “shortly submitted to the Six Governments. While no decisions have been taken as to timing, it seems unlikely that any action will be taken on the texts until after Easter. The best estimate seems to be that the texts will be finally approved and signed by the Six Foreign Ministers at the meeting scheduled for mid-May” (Despatch Coled 11 from Paris, March 25, 1953, 740.5/3–2353).