Oldal 3 [3]
OCR
- page three an two Mynisters, Erwin Mueller for Justice and Culture, and Dr, Friedrich Reuter for Finances are people of lesser importance, 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 belong 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 influential 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 PeoGerman 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 80clalist 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 postponement of the elections for an indefinite period, if the Buropeanization plan of Hoffman would be accepted. This Europeanization plan holds very important concessions for the Germans. It would be carried out only after a free and unfettered plebiselite carried out under international supervision on the question of whether the Saar people would accept to become a European country. The cateh from a German point here is, that the Hoffman plan for the plebiscite des not indicate, what alternative questions will be put to the voters. Will they be allowed to vote for Germany, of will the alternative only be the Status Quo, in which case tue plebiscite though technically
