740.5/3–1154
Foreign Minister Bidault to the Secretary of State 1
I thank you for your message2 in which I recognized your frankness and your friendship. If I could not answer it earlier, it is because the assurances called for adjustments, in particular with regard to the [Page 895] dates. Our parliamentary regulations, the nature of the government coalition and the need to constitute a sufficient majority raise problems for the Prime Minister and myself, whose solution runs into very great difficulties even for determined wills.
The courage of the decision which you took in Berlin concerning Indochina was both understood and admired in France. I was particularly happy to read the tributes which were paid to you in the United States in spite of the efforts of those who find it hard to understand. I do not need to repeat to you my gratitude with which the French Government associates itself. I am convinced like you that the fact that a conference on Asia is to take place must not bring about new delays for the EDC, quite the contrary. And there is absolutely no question, as I have stated several times since my return to Paris, of the French Government subordinating to a new Indochinese “preliminary stage” the opening of the parliamentary debate on the ratification of the EDC.
Nothing is changed in this matter with regard to the will and the intentions of the Government as I expressed in Berlin.
Taking into account all of the factors of the political situation, Mr. Laniel and myself are working to bring about the necessary conditions for the rapid start of the debate.
This requires on the one hand that the parliamentary commissions should have finished the examination of the treaties of Paris and of Bonn; on the other hand that the “preliminaries” expressed by the French Government should have found a solution.
I appreciate the conversation which you held with Chancellor Adenauer with regard to that matter, as with regard to the matter of the reinforcement of the association mentioned by Mr. Eden in the House of Commons and of our preoccupation relating to the maintenance of Atlantic forces on the continent of Europe. Our concern is to be able to carry forward the negotiations with all the speed and discretion possible, and to bring them rapidly to a conclusion. I continue to consider desirable that the whole of the necessary assurances should be provided simultaneously, as I think we had agreed in Berlin during the conversation which we had in your house with Merchant and Alphand.
If, as we hope, all the outstanding questions can be settled, Mr. Laniel and myself have agreed to find the means of opening the debate on the EDC at the beginning of April. This will certainly not happen without votes having to be taken. Our task which may, from afar, have seemed to cause unnecessary delays, has been to transform patiently a lost cause into a cause which can and must be won. In order to achieve this, there must be absolute discretion on all the subjects having to do with this affair, including the question of the date. An article by Callendar in the New York Times, whose exploitation could have been [Page 896] explosive, has fortunately not, up to now, aroused the comments which I had reason to fear. I pray God that a calendar of American origin, unofficially proposed for our labors, and whose existence is known to several people, will not be brought to the attention of the public. It is up to the French parliament to pronounce itself and up to us to convince it. You know what we want. It is dangerous at this time to give advice whose detailed character would strike people more than its good intentions.
I repeat to you my will to maintain the close association of our countries for liberty, and the confident affection I feel for you.
- A note on the source text, by Merchant, directed to Acting Secretary Smith, reads: “Copy of Bidault message to the Secretary of EDC—obtained by D[ouglas] MacA[rthur, II] from Amb Bonnet 3/11/54”. In telegram Dulte 27 from Caracas, Mar. 9, Dulles informed Smith that he had received that day from the French Ambassador in Venezuela a “highly secret telegram from Bidault dated March 7”. Dulles’ subsequent summary of the contents of this telegram indicates that it contained the same message as the source text (740.5/3–954).↩
- Reference is to Dulles’ message to Bidault, Feb. 23, p. 879.↩