270. Editorial Note
In a March 7 address before the French National Assembly, French Prime Minister Gaillard proposed establishment of a “Western Mediterranean Commonwealth” comprising France, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, and possibly Italy and Spain. For an excerpt from his statement, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1958, page 1090. Reporters at Secretary Dulles’ March 13 press conference in Manila asked him about Gaillard’s plan. Dulles, who was in Manila to attend the fourth meeting of the SEATO Council, replied: “I feel that the broad concept of unity, both military and economic, between Western Europe and North Africa is a sound concept. It is a concept which has been in the minds of many of us for a long time. There is really a very close mutuality of interest between Western Europe and North Africa, and the development of that concept in a manner which [Page 629] is compatible with the complete independence of all of the countries involved but which accepts as a fact the theme which we stressed so much here today, namely, interdependence.” (Ibid.)
Dulles clarified his statement on March 25. In using the phrase “independence of all of the countries involved,” he explained: “I was speaking of the then independent countries and that the Mediterranean pact should not in any way impinge upon the existing independence of the countries of the area. … I did not intend by that statement to carry any implication, one way or another, about the future of Algeria.” (Ibid.; ellipsis in the source text)