Der Alte's Doubts

Konrad Adenauer's discussions with Charles de Gaulle in West Germany this week will almost certainly encompass their mutual doubts about Britain's desirability as a partner in Europe's Common Market. Adenauer, whom Britain once considered a staunch ally in its efforts to join Europe, has taken the line of late that, politically and economically, the Common Market may already be too big for its own good. Last week, after a TV interview in which the Chancellor bluntly questioned "whether Britain really wants" political union. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan treated the undiplomatic incident as a threat to Britain's chances of admission to the European Community.

Awakening Whitehall. Deliberately disregarding private assurances from Macmillan that his government is committed to political integration with the Six, West Germany's Chancellor based his misgivings on the purposefully vague statements in the House of Commons by which Macmillan has sought to soft-pedal this potentially explosive issue. When cables reporting Adenauer's TV comments came clattering into London from the British embassy in Bonn late one night, Macmillan was sufficiently irked to prod the Foreign Office into action forthwith. At i a.m., when it takes a major crisis to awaken Whitehall, the government released excerpts from a letter written by the Prime Minister to Adenauer emphasizing Britain's "wish to join wholeheartedly" in Europe's "efforts to move toward greater political union."

Back in Bonn, Adenauer's views were publicly disavowed by his Foreign Minister, Gerhard Schroder, who declared in a magazine interview that Europe had everything to gain from political and economic partnership with Britain. Though Schroder later explained that he had expressed this view without reference to Adenauer's prerecorded TV interview, he effectively strengthened his position as a successor to the Chancellor with the majority of West Germany's Protestant voters, who are generally more eager to bring Britain into Europe than to strengthen Germany's ties with France.

The Challenge. Short-circuited by Schroder and harshly rebuked for his tactlessness by opposition German papers, Adenauer kept silent. On the eve of De Gaulle's visit, he was plainly unwilling to take any corrective action that might seem to be currying favor with Britain.

Moreover, the Chancellor still has deep reservations about Britain's membership in the Common Market. Reasonably enough, he fears that Franco-German dominance in Europe's affairs will be challenged by Britain's admission, is troubled also by the threat that this will pose to West Germany's coal, textile and agricultural production. On the other hand, the majority of West Germans would welcome Britain to the community. Says Erich Mende, leader of the Free Democratic party, and an often critical colleague in Adenauer's coalition government: "We believe that we cannot exist without Great Britain. The parties are agreed on that. Only Adenauer and De Gaulle seem to have reservations."

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