FRENCH N.A.T.O. POSITION GIVEN

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31007, 12 March 1966, Page 15

FRENCH N.A.T.O. POSITION GIVEN

(N.Z P.A. Reuter—Copyright)

PARIS, March 11.

President de Gaulle has assured his Western allies there is no question of signing a Franco-Soviet pact when he visits Moscow in June, according to diplomats in Paris.

He has also stated that there is no question of reversing France’s alliances.

These assurances were contained in a detailed explanation of France’s decision to disengage all its forces from N.A.T.O. while maintaining membership of the alliance. The explanatory memorandum was handed yesterday to the Ambasador of Canada as France began to implement its break with N.A.T.O. Two Systems | It elaborates the reasons for France’s decision, which were j earlier this week outlined in brief personal letters from President de Gaulle to President Johnson, the British Prime Minister, Mr Harold I Wilson, the West German jChancellor Mr Ludwig Erhard, and the Italian Prime Minister. Mr Aldo Moro. ■ The French memorandum | proposed two systems of security w’ithin the Atlantic allii ance. I One would be the European

system and the other would be a Euro-American system. This arrangement could be crowned by regular consultations among all the Foreign Ministers of the Atlantic treaty nations.