Memorandum, State Department Summary of Telegrams

OFFICE OF DECLASSIFIED THE SECRETARY OF STATE Sec. 3-402 1982 WASHINGTON State Dept. DEB Guidelines, NLT, Date March-16-85 6, May 20, 1952 By SECRET SECURITY INFORMATION SUMMARY OF TELEGRAMS EUROPEAN Late yesterday evening M. Maurice Schumann, the French DEFENSE Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, informed Ambassador COMMUNITY Dunn in Paris that discussion of the EDC in a restricted TREATY French cabinet meeting yesterday had not gone well at all. M. Pleven was the only minister giving real support to Foreign Minister Schuman, and there was considerable sentiment for postponing the signature of the EDC treaty and the contractual agreements. It was decided to take the question to a full cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Until then Foreign Minister Schuman is not authorized to sign. Maurice Schumann said that Robert Schuman and Pleven had a particularly difficult time on the question of the assistance that France was receiving from other NATO countries to carry out its effort in Indochina and at the same time to be in a position to contribute to defense production and forces in Europe. The cabinet wished to postpone the beginning of German production until the size of the cutbacks of the present French pro - duction program were known. Maurice Schumann said he believed the cabinet after a very difficult discussion would give Schuman the authority to sign but he could not be certain about this until Wednesday. Ambassador Dunn comments that one thing he finds dis - turbing in Schumann's account was the apparent extent to which Prime Minister Pinay and other cabinet members considered the EDC as a complicating factor in the domestic program. Dunn says various sources report that Schuman is having a difficult time in the cabinet, allegedly for following a "'too liberal" policy in Tunisia. Dunn believes it more probable, however, that the opposition to Schuman arises primarily from his views on the EDC and the German problem as a whole, and that Tunisia is merely an excuse for opposition on the other score. ARGENTINA Our Charge in Buenos Aires has recently reported the imminent possibility of Argentine "revelations" of a US "plot" to overthrow the Peron Government, coupled with possible arrests of Argentine employees of our Embassy and accusations against American personnel of the Embassy, in the tradition now established in the Communist SECRET SECURITY INFORMA TION