WESTERN EUROPE ROUND 1 TO THE GENERAL IF MOST OF EUROPE SEEMED 
ANGRY AT CHARLES DE GAULLE LAST WEEK, NO ONE SEEMED TO 
KNOW QUITE WHAT TO DO ABOUT HIM . SPEAKER AFTER SPEAKER 
AT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT IN STRASBOURG RINGINGLY CONDEMNED CHARLES DE GAULLE'S 
IMPERIOUS THUMBS DOWN ON BRITISH MEMBERSHIP IN THE COMMON MARKET . 
AS A RESULT, DECLARED COMMON MARKET CHAIRMAN WALTER HALLSTEIN, THE SIX 
HAVE BEEN PLUNGED INTO THEIR " FIRST REAL CRISIS A CRISIS 
OF CONFIDENCE . " IN EUROPEAN CAPITALS FROM BONN TO ROME, 
FRANCE'S COMMON MARKET PARTNERS SPOKE BRAVELY OF GANGING UP ON DE 
GAULLE, PERHAPS BY BLOCKING HIS PLANS FOR ASSOCIATING FRANCE'S FORMER AFRICAN 
COLONIES WITH EUROPE, OR EVEN BY BOYCOTTING FRENCH GOODS . EMPTY 
CHAIR ? BUT WHEN THE SPEECHES WERE OVER, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTARIANS SPEECHLESSLY 
REALIZED THAT THERE WAS ALMOST NO CONCRETE ACTION THAT THEY COULD 
TAKE AGAINST LE GRAND CHARLES . DE GAULLE SEEMED TO HOLD 
ALL THE TRUMPS . SOME MEMBERS OF THE OTHER COMMON MARKET 
FIVE HAD TALKED OF GIVING FRANCE THE " EMPTY-CHAIR " TREATMENT, 
CARRYING ON THEIR EFFORTS FOR EUROPEAN UNITY AND ATLANTIC PARTNERSHIP WITHOUT 
THE FRENCH . YET WHAT PURPOSE WOULD IT SERVE TO EXCLUDE 
FRANCE FROM NATO COUNCILS ? NONE AT ALL . ITS CONTRIBUTIONS 
TO ALLIED FIGHTING STRENGTH ARE SUFFICIENTLY MEAGER IT IS TWO DIVISIONS 
BEHIND ITS COMMITMENTS IN GERMANY, IT WITHHOLDS ITS MEDITERRANEAN FLEET FROM 
NATO, KEEPS MOST OF ITS METROPOLITAN TERRITORY OUT OF THE AIR 
WARNING SYSTEM, AND EVEN PROHIBITS FOREIGN NUCLEAR WEAPONS ON FRENCH SOIL 
. STILL, SHEER GEOGRAPHY GIVES FRANCE A VETO ON NATO PLANNING 
. COULD FRANCE BE IGNORED IN THE TARIFF DISCUSSIONS OF THE 
40-ODD MEMBERS OF GATT, OR IN OECD, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COORDINATING 
GROUP THAT GREW OUT OF THE MARSHALL PLAN ? HARDLY, SINCE 
THE ECONOMIES OF ALL WESTERN EUROPEAN NATIONS ARE INTERTWINED WITH FRANCE'S 
. THE URGENT FRENCH NEED TO EXPORT FOOD SURPLUSES, AND ITS 
BOOMING MARKET FOR OTHER NATIONS' INDUSTRIAL GOODS, ARE THE STICK AND 
THE CARROT THAT HAVE GIVEN THE COMMUNITY MUCH OF ITS MOMENTUM 
. EVEN BELGIUM'S PAUL-HENRI SPAAK, PERHAPS THE MOST IMPLACABLE FOE OF 
DE GAULLE'S PLANS FOR EUROPE, AGREED LAST WEEK THAT THERE WAS 
NO GENERAL SUPPORT FOR RETALIATORY MEASURES AGAINST FRANCE . WEST GERMANY'S 
ECONOMICS MINISTER LUDWIG ERHARD, WHO WAS IN TEARS AT BRUSSELS WHEN 
FRANCE BLACKBALLED BRITAIN, WENT HOME BREATHING DEFIANCE OF DE GAULLE AND 
THREATS TO TOPPLE KONRAD ADENAUER NOWHERE (SEE BELOW) . AND AFTER 
ALL THE ORATORY AT STRASBOURG, A " SOLEMN PROTEST " MOTION 
CONDEMNING DE GAULLE'S " DOMINATION " OF EUROPE WAS IGNOMINIOUSLY DEFEATED 
BY A TIE VOTE OF 38-38 HARDLY A RESOUNDING GESTURE OF 
DEFIANCE . PERSONALITY CHANGE . BY THEIR VERY LACK OF PASSION 
AT THE NEW REALITIES, EUROPEAN STATESMEN PROVED THAT THERE IS STILL 
A LOT OF LIFE IN DEEP-ROOTED NATIONALISM, WHETHER DE GAULLE'S OR 
ANYONE ELSE'S . THE COMMUNISTS HAD FOUND OUT THE SAME THING 
IN YUGOSLAVIA, POLAND, HUNGARY AND EAST GERMANY . THERE WERE DIFFERENCES 
: RUSSIA HAD TRIED TO IMPOSE A UNITY, AND WESTERN EUROPEANS 
HAD HOPED TO EVOLVE INTO A UNITY BY DEMOCRATIC MEANS AND 
FOR MUTUAL BENEFIT . WESTERN EUROPEANS STILL INSIST THAT THE IDEA 
OF EUROPE WILL CARRY THE DAY, BUT AT THE MOMENT THERE 
IS A NEW CONSCIOUSNESS OF ONE ANOTHER'S DISPARATE TASTES, TALENTS AND 
DESTINIES . THE FRENCH, AWARE OF THE HOSTILITY OF ALLIES, WERE 
REASSURING EVERYBODY THAT THEY WERE NOT PROPOSING TO GO IT ALONE 
. FOREIGN MINISTER COUVE DE MURVILLE SAID : " IT IS 
NOT A QUESTION OF FREEING THE EUROPEAN PERSONALITY BUT OF REMAINING 
INSIDE THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE . " EVEN SO, EUROPE'S PERSONALITY HAD 
UNDOUBTEDLY UNDERGONE A CHANGE . SAID ONE MINISTER IN BRUSSELS LAST 
WEEK : " FOR THE PRESENT, ONLY EXPECT THE THINGS TO 
BE DONE QUICKLY AROUND HERE THAT ARE PLAINLY GOOD FOR ALL 
THE SIX COUNTRIES . IT WILL BE QUIT A WHILE BEFORE 
WE HEAR A MINISTER IN COUNCIL SAY HE IS VOTING FOR 
ANYTHING FOR THE GOOD THE COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE . / 
