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Rebuff at Strasbourg. De Gaulle derided the East-West test ban treaty with the gibe: "Numerous states have agreed, and for good reason: they lack the means to carry out the tests. It's a little bit like asking someone not to swim across the Channel." As for criticisms that Gaullist France has become increas ingly isolated in Western councils, De Gaulle proclaimed: "I can tell you with full knowledge of the facts that never has France been more closely supported or more sought after than today."
It was brave talk. But the real test of France's influence is that its neighbors are vehemently opposed to the force de dissuasion and resent French attempts to weaken the Atlantic Alliance. Be fore the Council of Europe in Strasbourg last week, Michel Habib-Deloncle, De Gaulle's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, urged support for an independent European deterrent, based on France's nuclear force, and even invited British participation. Said he: "If Great Britain conceives its future to be in the European Community, she can find in this field the occasion for a positive contribution." But Britain, with most other Council of Europe members, voted down the French proposal.