Government  on  that  score.  Officially  therefore  the  Soviet  Government  are  uncommitted
  and  could  jump  whichever  way  they  felt  their  interest  demanded  as  the
situation  developed.
Possible  Solutions
18. The  following  paragraphs  enumerate  the  different  types  of  solution  that  are
theoretically  possible,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  some  of  them  have  to  be
dismissed  at  once  on  practical  grounds.
(a)  Status  quo  ante
This  is  what  the  French  and  Herr  Hoffman  [sic]  would  like.  As  explained  in
paragraphs  7  to  9  above  it  is  not  really  a  workable  solution.
(b)  Status  quo  but  with  international  agreement  for  the  early  holding  of  new
Landtag  elections.
The  elections  could  for  instance  be  held  in  December  this  year,  as  they  would  be  if
the  Statute  were  approved,  instead  of  in  1957  as  would  normally  be  the  case  if  the
Statute  was  rejected.  This  would  give  the  Saar  population  a  means  of  expressing
their  feelings  about  Herr  Hoffman  [sic],  but  would  not  really  be  a  solution  at  all.  It
would  produce  a  pro-German  Saar  Government  which  could  be  expected  to  denounce
  the  Franco-Saar  Conventions  and  to  reach  complete  deadlock  with  the
French  Government,  which  on  the  basis  of  the  status  quo,  would  still  be  responsible
  for  the  Saar’s  foreign  relations  and  defence.  (But  see  further  the  attached
minute.26)
(c)  Another  solution  of  international  character.
The  trouble  about  this  is  that  the  Saarlanders  are  hardly  likely  to  get  a  better
international  deal  than  they  would  have  got  under  the  Statute.  If  they  reject  that
they  are  hardly  likely  to  accept  anything  else  of  the  same  type.  Nevertheless  there
might  be  something  in  an  idea  on  these  lines  if  applied  on  an  temporary  basis,  e.g.
as  subject  to  review  after  a  fixed  period,  five  years  for  instance.  The  most  suitable
international  framework  would  be  that  of  W.E.U.,  which  is  already  seized  of  the
problem,  and  on  which  the  French  and  Germans  are  represented.
(d)  The  placing  of  the  Saar  as  an  autonomous  area  under  provisional  German
administration  but  with  safeguards  for  French  interests.
A  solution  of  this  type  has  already  been  suggested  by  M.  Dehousse.  Any  such
arrangement  would  be  most  unwelcome  to  the  French.
(e)  A  straight  plebiscite  of  the  1935  type  for  or  against  return  to  Germany
The  French  would  of  course  never  accept  this  solution,  but  its  existence  as  a  logical
possibility  could  conceivably  come  in  useful  as  a  means  of  inducing  the  French  to
accept  something  less  disagreeable  from  their  point  of  view  as  an  alternative.

26 Hier  nicht  mit  abgedruckt.

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