WESTERN EUROPE: Yes to Ourselves

Under the gilded ceiling of Paris' Palais du Luxembourg, where Napoleon came to ask fresh levies to send against the Austrians and the Prussians, where Clemenceau, vengeful "Tiger" of the Versailles Treaty, once brooded in the red velvet chairs, the French Senate this week declared an end to the French-German hostility that has been the central pivot of European history for 150 years.

Ironically, the West could thank the Communists for the promise of a new era. By their unfriendly acts the Communists had achieved what men of good will had been unable to achieve (and what the Communists themselves least wanted) the pledged unity of the West. Said Premier Edgar Faure: "French-German quarrels have no meaning when we face an even more dangerous antagonist."

It was the last chance to upset the Paris accords for German rearmament. But even as the Senate debate opened, there was a strong sense of realism, of decisions made, of the inevitable accepted. Six members of Faure's Cabinet had voted against the accords in the Assembly and six had abstained. Now the Premier rose to declare that his entire Cabinet was united in support. Foreign Minister Antoine Pinay. who had abstained in the Assembly, set the theme of realism. The choice, he said, was not between an armed and an unarmed Germany; it was between a free France and a France dominated by the Soviet Union. Said he: "We must reinforce the West. We must strengthen its cohesion. Before coexisting, we must first exist . . If this rearmament is not done with us, it will be done without—or perhaps against us." If France insisted on standing alone, "one day, fate will make a choice for us—between slavery without hope or liberation from our ruins."

No Way Seems Sure. Senator after Senator rose to explain at length either that dislike of German rearmament was leading him to vote against or that dislike of German rearmament would not prevent him from voting for. Only the 16 Communists and some of the 48 Gaullists among the 320 members were implacably hostile, but as the oratory droned on, there arose real danger that the hesitant and reluctant would insist on delaying amendments.

"Doubts and criticisms spring up within me," wailed Gaullist Michel Debre. "No way seems to be sure, no solution seems to be the ideal." An Independent Senator complained that France was being blackmailed by its allies. "From surrender to surrender, from self-denial to self-denial, are we ready to abandon everything in order to avoid isolation?" he demanded.