Statement by the President on the Vote by the French Assembly To Ratify the Paris Treaties.

THE RECENT series of actions taken by the French Assembly is a matter of great gratification, not only to the United States but to the entire free world.

There are, of course, further steps to be taken, both in France and elsewhere, before a satisfactory foundation for Western Defense has been achieved. But of particular importance is the fact that the French Deputies, after initial hesitations against bringing Germany into Western Defense arrangements, have now voted to ratify the new treaties signed at Paris last October.

The French action is all the more significant since it follows the vote on ratification taken last week by the Italian Assembly, which approved Western Defense plans by a decisive majority.

Once sovereignty is restored to the Federal Republic, with German participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, there will be added defensive strength and general solidarity in Western Europe. As decisive cooperation supplants age-old antagonisms the prospects for a general and lasting peace will be definitely improved, and a measure of encouragement may therefore even now be felt by all who are earnestly striving to maintain and improve the unity and harmony of the free world.