International: Turning Point?

Though France's old (80) Edouard Herriot is nowadays something of a cipher, he is also something of a symbol. Associated in most minds with the stirring days of Aristide Briand and the invincible Clemenceau. Herriot is 1) President (Speaker) of the French National Assembly, 2) leader of the influential rightist Radical Socialist Party. Last week Herriot the symbol threw a symbolic wrench into the delicate engineering of the European Defense Community.

Standing before a 16-ft. portrait of himself at a Radical Socialist congress in Bordeaux, Herriot attacked the six-nation treaty which would set up a multinational European army against Communist aggression. Said Herriot: "Does this treaty conform to our Constitution? I say no ... All the provisions of this treaty work to put France in a position of inferiority." Herriot's specific objections: 1) under articles 12 and 13, the Germans, and all other nations, could withdraw troops from the joint army on the pretext of putting down domestic disturbances, while if France wanted to withdraw troops to send them to Morocco or Tunisia, she would have to ask permission of the European Command "like a minor"; 2) Article I: gives Germany the right to have a militia, like the paramilitary formations that were the nucleus of Hitler's army; 3) Britain is not a party to the treaty. Said Herriot: "I say to my American friends that it is impossible for us to accept a document containing so many menaces. It is impossible that our American friends would condemn France to death."

Some Paris newspapers called his speech a turning point in French foreign policy. But support for ratification came from such veteran statesmen as René Pleven and Paul Reynaud, who argued that the plan to bring West German troops into a European army is specifically designed to prevent the rebirth of the Wehrmacht. Premier Antoine Pinay, who needs the support of the Radical Socialists (75 seats) to stay in power, was quoted as saying: "I am for a European army, but

I am opposed to German participation in the general staff. Let them give us soldiers, nothing more." The French Foreign Ministry hurriedly denied that he had said such a tactless thing. In view of Herriot's opposition and Pinay's lukewarm support, ratification by the French Parliament is still possible, but chancier than ever.