Memorandum, State Department Summary of Telegrams

DEPARTMENT OF STATE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON DECLASSIFIED State Dept. Guidelines, March 6, 1982 E.O. 12065, Sec. 3-402 By DEB NLT, Date 6-5-85 July 31, 1950 TOOP SE SUMMARY OF TELEGRAMS FRANCE Ambassador Bruce in Paris has submitted a lengthy summary of the tentative thinking of top French officials on the problem of building an adequate defense system for western Europe. The proposal of French Premier Pleven to establish a common fund under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to be made up of national contributions based on national income is a reflection of wide acceptance within the French Government that NATO should be ex- panded into a real collective defense effort with central direction ade- - quate for action rather than merely a program to step up national efforts with coordinated planning. In general the French are of the opinion that the NAT and MDAP have given little, if any, guidance on what military production each country should undertake, on the amount and kind of rearmament for the existing and additional forces of each country, or on the general concept of interdependent, effective, modern striking forces. Among suggestions being considered by the French to meet this problem are 1) that a single American or a small civilian committee headed by an American, be given practically dictatorial powers on rearmament and military production; and 2) that NAT nations contribute all of present military budgets, except for "police forces", to a common budget and that a central NAT committee should direct all expenditures from these common funds. Some of the arguments which French officials make for such drastic changes in procedure are the inadequacy and the inefficiency of the "national" approach; the threat of a "galloping inflation" in France which would lead to a resurgence of Communist strength and render France useless and powerless in a war with the USSR; the need to spread the inflationary impact of the total military effort on an equitable basis among all NAT countries; the possible use of Germans in an Atlantic community or a European army; the need to dispel the defeat- ism of the French people who see no hope in a purely French defensive effort; and the necessity to avoid playing the "game of the USSR" which is to try to force the NAT nations into placing their economies into real "strait-jackets" which would reduce the net addition to the standard of living and to the military strength that could otherwise be obtained. E T