Le Figaro
- Elections to the Council in Geneva
- Talks resume on an international steel agreement
- Poland gains a semi-permanent seat on the League Council
Le Figaro combines a favourable assessment of the League’s Council compromise with the actual election results. Alongside these political negotiations, steelmakers prepare to resume talks over international production quotas and German imports.
Council editorial opening, opening steel-negotiation paragraphs and Council election results; remaining long columns are not fully transcribed.
Translation
Elections to the Council in Geneva
Yesterday the Geneva Assembly voted to create “re-eligible,” or semi-permanent, seats on the Council. This compromise will satisfy both supporters and detractors of the League of Nations.
All who cherish the Geneva institution will rejoice at its return to health after the dangerous growing pains of March. The departure of Spain and Brazil undoubtedly robs it of some vigour. But does Germany’s admission not bring it new blood? During this latest session in particular, has the League not demonstrated that public discussion among the representatives of all nations helps to ease conflicts and prevent difficulties?
Talks resume on an international steel agreement
Today, Friday, representatives of the French, German, Belgian and Luxembourg steel industries meet again in Paris at the Hôtel des Forges.
As we have reported, the recent Franco-German conference in Paris on 13 and 14 August failed to reach a settlement because French and Belgian steelmakers disagreed over the quotas to be allocated to their two countries.
As is known, the aim is to reach an international agreement on steel production while also setting the conditions under which a certain quota of steel products from Lorraine and Luxembourg will be admitted into Germany.
Poland gains a semi-permanent seat on the League Council
Elections for the non-permanent seats on the Council took place yesterday in Geneva.
Nine elective seats had to be filled. With 49 states voting, the following were elected on the first ballot:
Colombia, 46 votes; Poland, 45; Chile, 43; El Salvador, 42; Belgium, 41; Romania, 41; the Netherlands, 37; China, 29.
Czechoslovakia, which had failed to secure an absolute majority on the first ballot, was elected on a second ballot with 27 votes.
Context
A compromise between permanence and rotation
The League’s Council combined permanent members with countries elected by the Assembly. Its non-permanent membership increased to nine in 1926. Re-eligibility offered a way for a country to remain influential over several terms while retaining the Assembly’s vote. That middle course explains the expression “semi-permanent”: it answered demands for continuity without giving every claimant the same institutional position as a permanent member.
Steel cooperation depended on dividing the market
The planned steel agreement had two connected tasks: allocating production and arranging access to the German market. A common framework could be attractive to all four industries while its quotas still divided them. The disagreement between French and Belgian producers shows why cooperation could not be reduced to a single Franco-German bargain. Lorraine and Luxembourg products also needed an agreed route into Germany, linking output shares to actual sales opportunities.
Public diplomacy as a reason to support the League
The editorial’s optimism rests on a particular function of the League: governments could discuss disputes publicly in a common institution. Its praise is therefore broader than approval of the election results. It treats Germany’s participation and the handling of disagreements as signs that the institution could recover from a crisis. The adjacent vote totals show the practical machinery behind that hope—states still had to build majorities to enter the smaller Council.
Original
LES ELECTIONS AU CONSEIL DE GENEVE
LES ELECTIONS AU CONSEIL DE GENEVE
L’Assemblée de Genève a voté hier la création de « sièges rééligibles » ou semi-permanents au Conseil. Ce compromis donnera satisfaction à la fois aux partisans et aux détracteurs de la Société des nations.
Tous ceux qui chérissent l’institution genevoise salueront avec joie, après la dangereuse crise de croissance du mois de mars, son retour à la santé. Sans doute la sécession de l’Espagne et du Brésil lui retire-t-elle quelque vigueur. Mais l’admission de l’Allemagne ne lui apporte-t-elle pas un sang nouveau? Au cours de cette dernière session, en particulier, la Société des nations n’a-t-elle pas prouvé que la discussion publique, entre représentants de toutes les nations, contribuait à apaiser les conflits et à prévenir les difficultés ?
La reprise des négociations pour une entente métallurgique internationale
C’est aujourd’hui, vendredi, qu’a lieu à Paris, à l’hôtel des Forges, une nouvelle réunion entre les représentants de la sidérurgie française, allemande, belge et luxembourgeoise.
Ainsi que nous l’avons indiqué, la récente conférence franco-allemande de Paris des 13 et 14 août n’a pu aboutir par suite des divergences de vues des métallurgistes français et belges au sujet de la répartition des quotes-parts réservées à chacun de ces deux pays.
On sait qu’il s’agit de réaliser une entente internationale de la production de l’acier en même temps que de fixer les conditions dans lesquelles sera introduit en Allemagne un certain contingent de produits sidérurgiques lorrains et luxembourgeois.
La Pologne a obtenu un siège semi-permanent au Conseil de la S.D.N.
Les élections pour les sièges non permanents du Conseil ont eu lieu hier à Genève.
Neuf sièges électifs étaient à pourvoir. Ont été élus au premier tour de scrutin, sur 49 Etats votants :
Colombie, 46 voix ; Pologne, 45 ; Chili, 43 ; Salvador, 42 ; Belgique, 41 ; Roumanie, 41 ; Pays-Bas, 37 ; Chine, 29.
La Tchécoslovaquie, qui n’avait pas obtenu au premier tour la majorité absolue, a été élue dans un second tour de scrutin par 27 voix.