WEST GERMANY WAITING FOR THE CALL ECONOMICS MINISTER LUDWIG ERHARD, THAT PUDGY 
AND POPULAR FELLOW, HAS BEEN ITCHING TO GET HIS HANDS ON 
THE TOP JOB IN WEST GERMANY, AND CAN HARDLY WAIT FOR 
CHANCELLOR KONRAD ADENAUER TO RETIRE AS PROMISED NEXT FALL . HE 
HAS SHYLY NUDGED DER ALTE BEFORE, ONLY TO BE RAPPED HARSHLY 
ON THE KNUCKLES . LAST WEEK ERHARD PUFFED UP HIS CHEST 
AND TRIED AGAIN . TO A MUNICH NEWSPAPER, LUDWIG DECLARED HIS 
WILLINGNESS TO TAKE OVER RIGHT NOW . " I WOULD BE 
READY TO ACCEPT A CALL TO THE CHANCELLORSHIP IF MY PARTY 
AND THE BUNDESTAG SO DECIDED, " HE ANNOUNCED, CLEARLY HOPING THAT 
OTHERS FELT AS HE DID . AFTER ALL, MANY OF WEST 
GERMANY'S RESTIVE POLITICIANS HAD BEEN GRUMBLING OVER CHARLES DE GAULLE'S COURTSHIP 
OF DER ALTE, WONDERING WHETHER THE PRICE OF GERMANY'S NEW FRIENDSHIP 
TREATY WITH FRANCE WAS AN UNACCEPTABLE SUBSERVIENCE TO FRANCE, AND WHETHER 
IT REQUIRED SIDING WITH THE FRENCH AGAINST BOTH BRITAIN AND THE 
U.S . NO SUPPORT . BUT WHEN ERHARD SAT BACK TO 
LISTEN FOR THE EXPECTED CRIES OF SUPPORT, THERE WAS NOTHING BUT 
SILENCE . HE HAD OVERREACHED HIMSELF . AT THE FIRST CABINET 
MEETING AFTER ERHARD GAVE OUT HIS READINESS-TO-SERVE INTERVIEW, KONRAD ADENAUER SIMPLY 
SMILED AND AGREED WITH EVERY COMPLAINT POOR LUDWIG COULD THINK OF 
. WOULD THE CHANCELLOR FLATLY ENDORSE BRITAIN'S ENTRY INTO THE COMMON 
MARKET ? HE DEMANDED . OF COURSE, ADENAUER AGREED BLANDLY . 
WOULD ADENAUER DECLARE THAT NATO AND CLOSE RELATIONS WITH THE U.S 
. WERE THE BASIS OF BONN'S DIPLOMACY ? NATURALLY, SMILED DER 
ALTE . THEN CAME THE CLANGER . WOULD ADENAUER DISASSOCIATE HIMSELF 
FROM DE GAULLE'S IDEAS OF CREATING A THIRD FORCE BETWEEN EAST 
AND WEST ? SNAPPED DER ALTE : OF COURSE NOT, NO 
NEED FOR IT . DE GAULLE HAD NEVER EVEN DISCUSSED SUCH 
THOUGHTS WITH HIM ; BESIDES, WEST GERMANY IS OPPOSED TO SUCH 
A POLICY . RUNNING OUT OF STEAM AND QUESTIONS ERHARD LOOKED 
AROUND THE ROOM FOR SUPPORT FROM FOREIGN MINISTER GERHARD SCHRODER AND 
DEFENSE MINISTER KAI-UWE VON HASSEL . THEY, LIKE ERHARD, ARE PROBRITISH, 
AND LIKE ERHARD, HAVE GRAVE RESERVATIONS ABOUT ADENAUER'S COMRADESHIP WITH DE 
GAULLE . BUT NEITHER WAS PREPARED TO BRING DOWN THE GOVERNMENT 
; SCHRODER FOUND A SUDDEN FASCINATION IN HIS THUMBNAILS ; VON 
HASSEL SHUFFLED PAPERS . NEGLECTED CONSCIENCE . NEXT DAY, AT A 
CAUCUS OF THE RULING CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS AND THEIR ALLIES, ADENAUER CHIDED 
ERHARD MERCILESSLY FOR PRESUMING TO SEEK CONTROL OF THE GOVERNMENT . 
WHEN THE CABINET FINALLY VOTED ON ADENAUER'S DEMAND THAT THE FRANCO-GERMAN 
PACE BE RATIFIED IMMEDIATELY, ERHARD'S NEIN WAS OVERWHELMINGLY DEFEATED . FOR 
THE CHANCELLOR, THERE WAS NOW ONLY THE BUNDESTAG TO BE DEALT 
WITH . KONRAD ADENAUER, 87, HANDLED THE SITUATION WITH DEFT EASE 
. THE FRANCO-GERMAN TREATY " IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR EUROPEAN 
INTEGRATION, " HE TOLD THE ASSEMBLED LEGISLATORS . " IT IS 
MERELY ONE OF THE ESSENTIAL PREREQUISITES . " AS A MATTER 
OF FACT, DECLARED DER ALTE, DE GAULLE " PROMISED ME THAT 
THE FIRST SUBJECT OF JOINT CONSULTATION AFTER THE TREATY GOES INTO 
EFFECT WILL BE BRITISH ENTRY " INTO THE COMMON MARKET . 
AS FOR THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE, " EUROPE KNOWS THAT IT CANNOT 
DEFEND ITSELF WITHOUT THE SUPPORT OF THE UNITED STATES . I 
UNDERLINE AGAIN OUR REPEATEDLY EXPRESSED INTENTION OF ORGANIZING OUR DEFENSE IN 
THE FRAMEWORK OF NATO / LUDWIG ERHARD SAT SILENT THROUGHOUT ADENAUER'S 
PERFORMANCE, SHOWED NO EMOTION EVEN WHEN DER ALTE TURNED TO THE 
ECONOMIC MATTERS WHICH ARE ERHARD'S SPECIALITY AND SAID : " CHANCELLOR 
ERHARD WILL . . . I MEAN MINISTER ERHARD . . 
. " BOTH SIDES OF THE HOUSE DISSOLVED IN LAUGHTER AS 
ADENAUER PERMITTED HIMSELF A RARE GRIN . " MALICIOUS CRITICS WILL 
THINK I DID THAT ON PURPOSE, " HE SAID . " 
BUT I ASSURE YOU I DID NOT . WELL, MAYBE HAVING 
A LAUGH IN THE MIDDLE OF SUCH A BORING GOVERNMENT STATEMENT 
IS A GOOD THING . " AT WEEK'S END, ERHARD WAS 
RIGHT WHERE HE HAD ALWAYS BEEN, GROPING FOR THE TOP RUNG 
OF THE LADDER . AND KONRAD ADENAUER WAS IN HIS ACCUSTOMED 
PLACE ON TOP . 