The early French plans were concerned with keeping Germany weak and strengthening the French economy at the expense of that of Germany. French foreign policy aimed at dismantling German heavy industry, placing the coal-rich Ruhr area and Rhineland under French control or at a minimum internationalize them, and also joining the coal-rich Saarland with the iron-rich province of Lorraine. When American diplomats reminded the French of what a devastating effect this would have on the German economy, France's response was to suggest the Germans would just have to "make the necessary adjustments" to deal with the inevitable foreign exchange deficit. In 1947 France removed the Saar from Germany and turned it into a protectorate under French economic control. The area returned to German administration on 1 January 1957 but France retained the right to mine from its coal mines until 1981. French plans for the complete detachment of the Ruhr from Germany met with greater resistance. In September 1946 James F. Byrnes, the United States Secretary of State stated in a Stuttgart speech Restatement of Policy on Germany that the United States would accept the French claims on the Saarland, but that: "the United States will not support any encroachment on territory which is indisputably German or any division of Germany which is not genuinely desired by the people concerned. So far as the United States is aware the people of the Ruhr area and the Rhineland desire to remain united with the rest of Germany. And the United States is not going to oppose their desire."
Overview
The Ruhr Agreement was imposed on the Germans as a condition for permitting them to establish the Federal Republic of Germany. By controlling the production and distribution of coal and steel, the International Authority for the Ruhr in effect controlled the entire West German economy, much to the dismay of the Germans. They were however permitted to send their delegations to the authority after the Petersberg agreement. With the West German agreement to join the European Coal and Steel Community in order to lift the restrictions imposed by the IAR, thus also ensuring French security by perpetuating French access to Ruhr coal, the role of the IAR was taken over by the ECSC.
Council
The authority was governed by a council composed of the signatory governments of the London Agreement. The representatives of the Allies each had three votes and the Benelux countries had one vote each. The agreement also stipulated the accession of Occupied Germany as soon as it had formed a government recognized by the Allies, and that role came to be held by West Germany. Economic costs were shared among the members on the basis of voting rights.
