Oldal 3 [3]
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an
two Mynisters, Erwin Mueller for Justice and Culture, and
Dr, Friedrich Reuter for Finances are people of lesser im¬
portance, who have no prominent role in shaping the policies,
They just carry out what they are told to Ade
At present there gre four parties in parliament.
The most important is the C tholie Christliche Volkspartei,
which holds 28 seats in the"50 seat Landteg. They had obtained
51,2% of the.votes. They thus are forming bogay the governement.
Of all the M nisters only Finance Minister R°uter des not be¬
long to the Party. He is an independent. Second in importance
4s the Sozialdemokratische Partei der Saar, the Socialist
Party, which has 17 seats in the Landtag, and obtained at the
last elections in 1947 almost 33% of the votes. The most in¬
fluential Party Member is Peter Zimmer, Mayor of Saarbruecken
and Speaker of the Landtag. But Nr. Braun, M.P., brother of
the late Max Braun ís also influential, especially with the
older generation. The third Party is the D mokratische Pertei
Ger Saar, which has 3 Members in the Landt&g and the Communists
with two members, But 4t must be understood, that these parties
together would not get more than 30% of the votes, if the Peo¬
German Parties were admitted to contend the elections.
According to best possible estimates, made by the
shrewdest observers in the Saar, the admission of G rman Parc
ties would bring about the @isappearance of the Saeflend's 80¬
clalist and D mocratée Party. Hoffmqn's Party would get from
20 to 25% of Phe votes, the Communists would lose something,
but not much, the 70% ef the votes would be shared between the
German CDU, the Christian Party of C encellor Adenauer and
the German Socialist Party of Ollenhauer.
To avoi@ such a situation, and at the same tine to
avoid free elections at this time when they are bound either
to be bitterly criticized as undemocratic or else to turn to
the defeat of the Saar Parties , the Saar governement has tried
with the help and advise of French Ambassador Gilbert Grand—
val, to turn the wevering line of french policies to their
temporary advantage. Ine Saar regime would accept the postpone¬
ment of the elections for an indefinite period, if the Buro¬
peanization plan of Hoffman would be accepted. This Europeani¬
zation plan holds very important concessions for the Germans.
It would be carried out only after a free and unfettered ple¬
biselite carried out under international supervision on the ques¬
tion of whether the Saar people would accept to become a Euro¬
pean country. The cateh from a German point here is, that the
Hoffman plan for the plebiscite des not indicate, what alter¬
native questions will be put to the voters. Will they be allo¬
wed to vote for Germany, of will the alternative only be the
Status Quo, in which case tue plebiscite though technically