First Step

Something without a name, but resembling an Atlantic economic community, was born in Paris last week. It reflected an American desire and a European worry. The U.S. feels that Western Europe, lifted to unprecedented prosperity by 14 years of American aid, should join the U.S. in underwriting the development of the poor countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Europe's concern is that the growing commercial rivalry between the Common Market Six and the British-inspired Outer Seven would lead to a trade war that might jeopardize the Western alliance.

Last week, in the chill marble halls of Paris' Hotel Majestic, a briefcase brigade of economic experts from 13 Western nations addressed themselves to these problems. At the suggestion of U.S. Under Secretary of State Douglas Dillon, they agreed to set up a temporary committee to think about increasing and coordinating foreign aid programs. For the long range, they decided "in principle" to establish a 20-nation Atlantic economic community consisting of the 18 members of the OEEC (the longstanding Organization for European Economic Cooperation, set up in Marshall Plan days), plus the U.S. and Canada. The details would be worked out by four "wise men": one North American (U.S. Ambassador to NATO W. Randolph Burgess); one Frenchman, to represent the Common Market Six (Bernard Clappier of the Finance Ministry); one Briton, to represent the Outer Seven (probably Foreign Office Economic Expert Sir Paul Gore-Booth) ; and one Greek, to represent other Europeans (Xenophon Zolotas, governor of the Bank of Greece).

Until the wise men could ruminate and conclude, most European leaders contained their optimism. But the proposed new community would have one overriding merit: through it, the U.S. would for the first time be linked to Europe by economic ties as formal and binding as the military ties of NATO.

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