§ 38. Mr. Warbeyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will give an assurance that no decision establishing a combined German Government for the Western zones of Germany will be reached before this House has been consulted.
The Minister of State (Mr. McNeil)Discussions are now proceeding between the British and United States authorities in Germany on methods of making more effective the bi-zonal agencies already constituted, including ways of making these agencies more representative of German opinion in the two zones. There is no intention of giving these agencies the status of a government.
§ Mr. WarbeyWill the right hon. Gentleman give an explicit assurance that no political fusion of the two zones is contemplated and that nothing will be done which would tend to harden or make permanent the division between Eastern and Western Germany?
Mr. McNeilMy right hon. Friend has already repeatedly made his position clear on this subject. Such arrangements as we make will allow for unity at any time. There is nothing we desire more than the economic fusion of Germany on equitable terms.
§ Mr. StokesDoes my right hon. Friend not agree that one of the most sensible things done at Potsdam was to stipulate for a uniform German Government, and is it not under the circumstances an essential precedent to a uniform Government that the three Western zones should first be united?