208 



from sight, not to reappear for more than a decade. So the United 

 States retained its enrichment monopoly. 



WHETHER TO INCLUDE MILITARY ACTIVITIES IN EURATOM 



Central to Atoms for Peace was the thought of dissuading nations 

 from making atomic weapons. This concept was evident in proposals 

 during negotiation of the Euratom treaty that the signatories be 

 barred from military use of nuclear energy. This proposed restriction 

 generated strong opposition in France, which at that time was the 

 only one of the six Euratom states with the ability to make weapons. 

 In July 1956 during debate of the proposed European nuclear com- 

 munity in the French National Assembly, the Gaullists, Radicals, 

 Independents, and some members of the Catholic Party solidly op- 

 posed any limitation to France's right to produce and use atomic 

 weapons. When it became clear to Prime Minister Guy Mollet that 

 there was no chance for Euratom if he persisted in his advocacy of 

 limiting European use of nuclear energy to peaceful purposes, he 

 yielded to legislative pressure. Before the Assembly would approve 

 French participation in preparing the treaties, he had to assure it that 

 his Government would satisfy itself that France's participation in 

 Euratom would restrict neither her national atomic program nor her 

 right to produce and use atomic weapons for national security. 189 Thus 

 the idea that Euratom could serve to prevent nuclear armament in 

 Europe was stillborn. 



WHETHER EURATOM SHOULD HAVE A MONOPOLY OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS 



A key issue of the international negotiations that culminated in 

 Euratom was whether this multinational, regional organization should 

 have title to all nuclear fuels within the members states, or whether 

 member states could individually own these materials. The negotiators 

 had before them the example of the United States which in the 

 Atomic Energy Act of 1946 took title to all nuclear materials in the 

 Nation and forbade their private ownership. The French representa- 

 tives argued that a Euratom monopoly was imperative to ensure non- 

 discriminatory access of the members to nuclear supplies. For them 

 the principles of monopoly and of equal access were fundamental 

 to European atomic integration. The German representatives opposed 

 such a monopoly as incompatible with the German free-market econ- 

 omy. To settle the issue, French Prime Minister Mollet called a con- 

 ference of the six nations in February 1957. The final communique 

 from this Paris meeting announced that ownership of fissionable 

 materials would be vested in Euratom, except for those held for 

 military purposes. 100 



A Treaty for Euratom 



The treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community 

 was si gned in Rome on March 25, 1957. 



Its stated aim was to contribute to the raising of the standard of 

 living in member states and to development of commercial exchanges 



1SB Polach. op. clt.,p. 64. 



190 For a discussion of this meeting, cf. Polach, op. clt., p. 66. 



