At the conclusion of this general discussion, in which so much eloquence has been expended and in which the anxieties and hopes of the five continents have found highly qualified interpreters, it is difficult to add further considerations or to make a choice among the proposals submitted to the Assembly.
52. As regards these proposals, I would not wish to anticipate the debates which, according to our rules of procedure, will take place later, in committee or in plenary meeting. They will be the concern of our representatives and our experts. We shall have to distinguish, among the various suggestions, between those whose object is propaganda and the furtherance of political strategy, and those which offer serious and sincerely studied reforms.
53. The customary theme of our speeches is peace, which is the very essence of our task and the raison d'être of this Organization. Peace is an end: it is the crowning of a collective effort, an effort of good will in the first place, and then a constructive effort in the search for a better organization of the world. There is no peace without security, no security without justice. Words of peace are uttered in vain so long as there exists a threat to the freedom of peoples. Since the ghastly war in which the freedom of the world was almost engulfed in tyranny, our peoples have placed all their hopes for peace and security in the United Nations. They expect that it will ensure effective protection against aggression and the peaceful settlement of conflicts.
54. Unfortunately, past results have not yet completely fulfilled this expectation and this need. The authority of the Organization is not sufficiently unchallengeable to be accepted by all, or, if need be, to be imposed upon all. It is not supported by an organized force, permanently available and sufficiently powerful to prevent or punish aggression,
55. It is true that this authority is about to be imposed in Korea. It is to the especial credit of the United States that, from the first day, it understood the importance of what was at stake and accepted the principal risks and sacrifices of this common endeavour which has restored the confidence of peace-loving countries.
56. Despite this comforting fact, it must be admitted that procedural delays and the threat of the veto still overshadows any collective action. More than ever, a reform of our methods of work and a better co-ordination of our efforts and our means of action are essential.
57. Several speakers have expressed satisfaction at the speed with which the Council took its decisions concerning Korea, as well as at the effectiveness of subsequent action. The French Government fully shares those sentiments. It hopes that the United Nations may, if need be, display similar speed and efficacy in the future. It therefore welcomes the views expressed by the Secretary of State of the United States [279th meeting]. It will consider with the greatest attention the specific proposals which will be formulated by the United States delegation.
58. In dealing with such far-reaching plans, it would seem that especial heed should be constantly paid to the method of their consideration. In the first place, it is important to have a clear picture of the purpose which it is designed to achieve. Once this picture is clearly outlined, one must determine what can be achieved by modifying our procedure, whether customary or codified in our rules; what would entail an interpretation of the Charter, which the Assembly is obviously qualified to decide upon; and, finally, what would call for a modification of the Charter, which has laid down its own rules for a possible amendment.
59. We expect the authority and efficacy of our Organization to be strengthened in the future. Meanwhile, our governments, being responsible for peace and security, could not and cannot be resigned to the passive expectation of future reforms, nor can they be satisfied with a form of collective protection which is more theoretical than real. As we know, the Charter itself authorizes and encourages the setting up of regional groups, as well as any other initiative for the implementation of legitimate collective defense, pending the full development of universal institutions.
60. France has adhered to and will continue to give her support to these regional peace organizations which, it is true, are provisional and partial solutions, but which are justified by the present imperfections of the world Organization. They will be superfluous when the United Nations has become a reality and when its authority is imposed everywhere and in all circumstances. We fervently hope that war will soon become physically impossible, but, until then, we shall be well advised to secure ourselves against it. To be in a position to defend peace by force of arms is the traditional method, but it is not the only way, nor the best one for preventing war. We must awaken in the hearts of our peoples the feeling of their solidarity, of the community of their destinies, of the impossibility — as we see every day — of solving the gravest problems of the hour by national action alone and thus implant the idea, and later arouse the will, for supra-national cooperation, which will gradually replace, the ill-feeling and mistrust of the past. That is the task and the real duty which is incumbent upon most of us.
61. In Europe in the first place, where France occupies a privileged position, the French have responded to all the calls of that nature which their own Government or other countries have made to them. It was thus that the Council of Europe was set up. In its sixteen months of existence, the Consultative Assembly in Strasbourg has striven to create a European spirit, over and above frontiers and parties. We welcome the results already achieved — the birth of a supra-national conscience and of a common task and responsibility, without prejudice to the legitimate diversity of national traditions and interests. We hope that we are on the way to creating a European authority which, in certain fields and in certain circumstances, would have powers of decision.
62. The organization of Europe and of peace in Europe cannot, however, be seriously undertaken — as France realizes full well — until the old Franco-German antagonism has been eradicated and until this focus of contention has disappeared from the heart of Europe. My country recognizes its duty not to shirk such a reconciliation; what is more, it was incumbent upon it to take the initiative in this matter. We have done so in a sphere where military considerations play no part and in which peaceful and constructive co-operation is the sole object; it is a sphere so important that the action we take will exert a decisive ‘influence on all our economies thus associated.
63. We have proposed — and we have been negotiating for rather more than three months with Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg — the pooling of our coal and steel production and the creation of a single market for those two products, which would circulate freely in the territories of these six countries, inhabited by 160 million people. Such an elimination of customs duties and of any other protective or restrictive measures calls for an equalization of production costs, which have so far varied widely in those countries. It will therefore be necessary to attempt to harmonize wage-price policy and social and fiscal legislation. Such an alignment of production costs must not, however, entail any disadvantage for the wage-earners; it should, on the contrary, open up better prospects for their future, A high authority, appointed by the governments, but acting under its own responsibility, will lay down rules and enforce their observance, It will be the first supra-national institution, independent both of governments and of private interests. Its members will not deliberate or vote under instructions, as representatives of national or private interests. They would have in mind only the collective interests of their associated countries. The governments will, however, be authorized to approach this authority in order to give advance notice of their views, or to submit to an international tribunal any decisions which may seem to them seriously to jeopardize the general interests of their respective countries. Finally, the authority will be answerable for its activities to an inter-parliamentary political assembly, which will have power to dissolve it and order its replacement.
64. As may easily be seen, this is a bold attempt to breach national egotisms in favour of a supra-national concept. The authority will not be a cartel, aiming at maintaining or increasing profits, even at the cost of restricting production or lowering wages. On the contrary, the goal will be to increase output, internal consumption and exports by the better organization of production and the reduction of costs, and to maintain full employment.
65. The countries associated in this ambitious but essentially peaceful task will no longer be tempted to wage war; indeed, war between them will become unthinkable and impracticable. Their economic activities will be progressively united or aligned in other fields besides those of coal and steel. The undertaking will be the common task of the six countries which are bold enough to attempt it in the interests of their associated peoples. And we express the hope that the experiment of an independent supra-national authority will go forward, opening up hitherto undreamed-of prospects for the peace of Europe.
66. This year again, peace will have constituted the refrain of our speeches; it will be the principal object of our labours, the ideal, pursued like a fleeting phantom and often repudiated in practice. Are we hypocritical or are we simply feeble in our efforts to ensure a peace which our peoples are nevertheless unanimous in desiring, ardently and sincerely? If we could rid our thoughts and our actions of all national egotism and utilitarian prejudice, if we could really base our actions and decisions on the principles inculcated in us by religion and philosophy, things would be better, in spite of the inevitable shortcomings of human nature.
67. But in our present state of mind, we too often take up a problem, or the settlement of a dispute, in the spirit of partisans concerned primarily with the defence of their own interests, more or less disguised under general considerations. Can peoples and governments acquire and practise a supra-national spirit? That is the problem before us. The Charter is based upon such an idea; it presupposes it as a living reality. The Charter is and will remain vitiated in its implementation and operation until we come to be inspired, without reserve or ulterior motive, by the collective interests of our countries; until we succeed in making our governments admit, in our parliaments and consequently in this Assembly, the primacy of the supra-national common good. We are still far from that point, and yet we must live and act and not despair.
68. How can we then serve the cause of peace in this torn world of today, in spite of the bitter competition of national interests, in spite of the passionate antagonism of political and economic ideologies and, sometimes, in spite of racial prejudices and traditional rivalries? Is it enough to engage in propaganda for peace while permitting the passions which threaten peace to thrive? Is it enough to call for the prohibition of arms, without first having ensured a minimum of effective security?
69. In three successive years, it has been proposed to us that we should unite in order to strengthen peace, that we should ban war propaganda and that we should prohibit certain weapons and reduce our stocks of others. This is not the time to study the technical aspects of these problems; they are not new problems, since they had already occupied the attention of the League of Nations for many years. But I wish in my turn, very frankly, without passion and in all fairness, to make a preliminary point in this connexion.
70. Before speaking of peace, it is necessary to create an atmosphere of peace and, as has already been said, to restore mutual confidence. It is necessary first and foremost that those who speak of peace should stop attacking and give the example of a peace-loving spirit.
71. We are living in a state of unrest which is general and, worse still, which is deliberately maintained. Sometimes it is a case of territorial claims; sometimes of direct and violent interference in the political life and organization of countries; and sometimes of control systematically established and maintained over ex-enemy territory or areas liberated from the enemy. Ideological expansion is just as harmful to peace as imperialist expansion; it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the two. The existence of satellite States is contrary to the idea of peace and to the principle of self-determination.
72. The will to peace must be made manifest otherwise than in words and propaganda. Each government must try by its practical conduct to convince the rest of the world that it wishes to live in peace and let live in peace — that is to say, that it desires to leave every country free to choose its political and economic system. The coexistence in the world of different regimes, respectful of one another, must be generally and honestly accepted. Furthermore, territories which are organizing or reconstituting themselves politically must be allowed to do so in freedom, if necessary under international supervision when specific difficulties arise, but without pressure, through elections and under the guarantees offered by any true democracy.
73. Is it possible to speak sincerely of peace while at the same time maintaining organizations of which the officially avowed purpose is to promote and maintain violent agitation and civil war in other countries?
74. Before any discussion or negotiation, I put this question: are we all prepared to renounce such actions, to disband such organizations and to engage only in such forms of propaganda and to make such claims as are compatible with free democracy and the secure existence of the State itself? Until we have a clear and convincing reply to this question and until all our attitudes conform to these principles, which are those of the Charter, our conversations will be sterile and our agreements a snare and a delusion,
75. Our peoples want peace, sincerely and resolutely. The word has for them the charm of a wonderful melody to which they love to listen. To extract from them signatures for fallacious petitions claiming to lead them towards peace, while actions run counter to such intentions, is to abuse their confidence.
76. We are met here in order that our will to peace may be put to the test otherwise than in empty words. We shall be judged by our peoples and by history on the policy we pursue; the results we achieve will be in proportion to the tenacity and the sincerity with which we succeed in uniting our efforts.
77. My Government, for its part, is resolved to continue along the road it has taken. Bold and fruitful ideas have always had an appeal for the French people and, faithful to this tradition, France is striving to ensure the acceptance of the concept of a supra-national authority. By spontaneously renouncing a part of their sovereignty in favour of such an authority, States will furnish decisive evidence of their will to build a peaceful and better world. By pooling their national resources and energies, they will drive back poverty and war.