France Persuades Common Market Partners to Formulate Common Mideast Policy

France has taken the lead in persuading its five European Common Market partners to formulate a common policy on the Middle East with each of the six nations undertaking to study an individual aspect of the problem, it was learned here today. The initiative was started at the ECC foreign ministers’ meeting in Munich last November. French Foreign Minister Maurice Schumann reportedly persuaded his colleagues from West Germany, Italy, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg to begin studying the Mideast problem together in order to formulate a joint policy. The other ECC nations were said to have been surprised by the French move. Hitherto, the partners have limited their common policy to NATO and GATT. France is the only Common Market member that is also a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and that claims to have vital interests in the Middle East.

Following the Munich meeting, the six member states appointed representatives to draw up a list of points on which all are in agreement. The experts have been meeting here. They are expected to end their talks next March and to present their findings at the next foreign ministers’ conference in April. According to reliable sources, the Middle East problem has been divided into four sections to which one or more of the Common Market partners has been assigned to give special attention. France will study demilitarized zones which means she will concentrate on the question of frontiers. The future status of Jerusalem will come under the purview of Belgium which is known to favor a form of internationalization for that city. West Germany and Holland will consider the question of freedom of navigation and Italy will concentrate on policy toward the Arab refugee problem.