Abstract
URING protracted negotiations between members of European Economic Community (EEC) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA), during De Gaulle's attempts at disentanglement in Algeria, and during East-West struggle over future of Berlin, a Franco-German engineering project in a quiet corner of Europe has been proceeding almost unnoticed. Yet when it is completed late in 1963, canalization of Moselle River (Fig. 1) may have an economic impact on Western Europe equal to addition of a medium-sized nation to EEC, loss of Saharan oil to France, or severance of trade with Eastern Europe. The political effects are no less significant. The project should become one of strongest bonds uniting EEC, with or without EFTA. For French, it intensifies an already enormous commitment of resources in the East (the Lorraine industrial region) and acceptance of a dependence on Rhine and Ruhr that has been unthinkable since Napoleonic times.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
