Who Pays the Bill?

Having broken the lease last month, French Landlord Charles de Gaulle last week told his NATO tenants precisely when he expects them to clear off French property. In messages to each of his 14 NATO "partners," he also pin pointed French evacuation from NATO's integrated commands. His timetable for all the au revoirs:

> By July 1 of this year, the 23,000 French troops and two tactical air squadrons based in West Germany will be withdrawn from joint commands. Whether they physically remain on German soil will depend, says De Gaulle, on bilateral arrangements with Bonn.

> By the same date, French officers in NATO's two military headquarters at Rocquencourt and Fontainebleau must pack their duffel bags and go home to strictly French military duties.

> By April 1, 1967, the NATO military headquarters themselves must be dismantled, and all U.S. and Canadian troops now in France moved elsewhere. Delays may be possible in certain cases, such as an aircraft-repair complex near Chateauroux, which just happens to employ 2,900 French civilians.

De Gaulle's latest ultimatum coincided with a regular meeting in Paris of the NATO council, the political arm of the defense community, which De Gaulle has given leave to stay on in France in the hope of emphasizing a fine Gallic distinction: that France is withdrawing from NATO's military structure while remaining a member of the Atlantic Alliance. That is a bit of window dressing the U.S. is little disposed to allow De Gaulle. If the other NATO members will go along, Washington will likely try to move the NATO council out of France as well.

U.S. Under Secretary of State George Ball, attending the NATO council meeting, had a few other questions. Who was going to pay for the move, which might cost as much as $1 billion? Ball argued that it ought to be France, which had unilaterally abrogated the NATO agreements. "Why should France contribute to an organization of which she is not a member?" replied a Gaullist spokesman loftily. In that case, hinted the U.S., NATO just might not move on De Gaulle's schedule--and then what would he do? Cut off the gas and electricity like any petty French proprietaire?

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