number 1 - Centre d'études et de recherches européennes Robert ...

The Western European Union Armaments Pool 53
The proposal was well received and not only by German industrialists who
made it clear that, provided cooperation was strictly non discriminatory, they were
keen to join in but also by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs. The officer in
charge of Aeronautical Affairs, Sacher, was reported in France to be actively fostering
the case for Franco-German joint action at local government level, especially
in Rhineland Westphalia. In the end, while the German delegation was taking part
in the WEU working group conversations, which had opened on 19 January, he
also travelled to Paris. 52 Towards the Paris Conference
The debate on the Paris Agreements at the French National Assembly was scheduled
for the end of December 1954. As the moment for it drew near tension was high
both in France and the other Western capitals. A few days before it opened Foster
Dulles made his contribution to ratification in the form of two letters to the French
government. The first promised "strict coordination" between the United States
officers and the WEU. Armaments Agency, the second confirmed the US President's
determination to keep American forces in Europe. The National Assembly's
debate began on 20 December. In the course of it the rapporteurs of the Committees
for Foreign Affairs, General Pierre Billotte, for Defence, Vincent Badie, and
for Industrial Production, Pierre-Olivier Lapie, all criticized the Agency's limited
powers. 53 Nonetheless, despite scant enthusiasm in European and Gaullist circles,
the Assembly ratified the Agreements. Before the last step, ratification by the Conseil
de la République, lay the Paris appointment.
On 5 January, the French government circulated to WEU members and the
American government a note which was meant to serve as the basis for the negotiations
due to open on 17 January. 54 It divided the build-up of the Armaments Pool
into two stages, a provisional one and a permanent one. During the first period the
Pool was to promote standardization and joint production on a voluntary basis. A
Military Standardization Committee composed of military personnel and technici-
51. His detailed proposal envisaged: Germany's accession to the International Association of Equipment
Manufacturers, the establishment of a joint society for the commercial representation of
aircraft equipment and joint study groups to develop projects and direct cooperation between
French and German technicians; AMAE, Wormser, 87, Note au sujet du voyage en Allemagne de
Monsieur Jarry, Président de l'AFITA.
52. Ibidem; François Poncet (Bad Godesberg) to E. Faure, no.386, 4 February 1955 and no.424, 8
February 1955.
53. L'année politique, 1954, pp. 493-495.
54. On the genesis P. GUILLEN, "La France et l'intégration de la RFA dans l'OTAN" reports two
drafts by the Foreign Ministry rejected by the Prime Minister: p.88. According to Quaroni, the text
was Mendès France's "hasty summery" ("affrettata sintesi") of seven projects drafted by different
groups and ministries: ASMAE, AP, Italia, 1955, b.409, fasc. Pool degli armamenti UEO, P. Quaroni
to G. Martino, 6 January 1955.