Foreign News: Spaak Speaks

Moscow might frown, but persistent Belgian Foreign Minister Paul-Henri Spaak knew what he wanted: a Western European Bloc. Pausing briefly in Brussels last week on his way from London to Paris, he made a historic statement. Said he: twice in a generation Belgian neutrality had been violated, Belgium overrun; as a result Belgium had renounced forever her traditional policy of neutrality and independence. He added “The British will supply military equipment to us. A certain number of Belgian soldiers will go to Britain for training in British methods.”

But the military merger of Britain and Belgium was only a first step. During Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s visit to General de Gaulle, Communist influence had muffled talk of a Western Bloc (TIME, Nov. 20). But Foreign Minister Spaak would not stay muffled. He said: “I want to emphasize that the Dumbarton Oaks scheme made particular reference to what are called regional arrangements. Belgium can envisage the conclusion of a regional accord with France, The Netherlands, Luxembourg and possibly Norway. . . .”

Spaak’s words found an echo in Britain. Last week London’s Economist barked gruffly at Moscow: “Russia insists on a grouping under her own leadership in eastern Europe. Why should the Russian influence in western Europe be used to create opposition against the . . . grouping in the west? The Russians tend to argue . . . that only their own spheres of influence are legitimate and all others are bad. . . . The western nations … are too self-conscious and self-confident to allow themselves to be included in anybody’s sphere of influence—which cannot be said of all the nations of eastern Europe. . . . For Russia to oppose [the Western Bloc] would not only be unjust, but shortsighted as well. . . .”