France attempted to be consistent in the assertion of her entitlements resulting from her role as one of the four powers responsible for Europe. Franco-German relations in the power-war years were not easy; however, after President Charles de Gaulle and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer signed the Elysee Treaty, aempts were made aimed at a rapprochement at the social contacts’ level; the political dialogue was also being developed.
France also attempted to build up its position in the East. The return to tradition was impossible because of regime transformations in Central and East Europe; in the case of relations between Poland and France, however, French politicians referred to the past, comparable historical experience and a number of apprehensions regarding Germany’s intentions. France was, actually, comfortable with the post-war reduction of Germany’s territory; it was thus de Gaulle’s declaration of 29th March, to the effect that Germany’s unification will be possible within the borders of the existing German states which became the mandatory position for the French policy which Paris used to remind not only Polish, but also German politicians. A formula suggested in May 1970 to Poland’s Foreign Minister, Mr Stefan Jędrychowski, by the French Minister, Mr Maurice Schumann, envisaged a joint declaration by the Four Powers and the submiing on their part of an assurance that they would support the invariable character of the border on the Oder–Lusatian Neisse rivers’ line, in accordance with a proviso set down in the Polish-German treaty. The idea of such a declaration was inconvenient to the People’s Republic of Poland, which did not wish the rights of the Powers to be given publicity and neither did it suit the Federal Republic of Germany, which did not wish such a declaration to be issued.