Pleven Plan debated

The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, provoked by Communist North Korea’s attack on the Republic of South Korea, caused concern among Western democracies that the Soviet Union could decide to attack Western Europe. The member nations of NATO – including the USA – had very little with which to oppose the conventional armed forces of the Red Army. This new concern prompted a discussion concerning a West German defence contribution („re-armament“). The thought of organising a new German army provoked primal fears, especially in France – only six years after the end of the German occupation.

© Documentation française The later Prime Minister René Pleven (left) 1944 with Charles de Gaulle

On 24 October 1950 the French Prime Minister René Pleven put forward a virtually revolutionary proposal: France, Italy, the Benelux nations and the Federal Republic of Germany (the member nations of the future „European Coal and Steel Community“) should join forces in a „European Defence Community“ (EVG) and place their armed forces under a shared minister of defence. On 15 February the foreign ministers of the six nations meet in Paris to debate the „Pleven Plan“. The EVG Treaty will be signed on 27 May 1952. However, the French National Assembly will refuse to ratify it in August of 1954. The majority of French are unwilling to place command of their own army under an international alliance.