2

"The creation of the Sub-Department for Commercial Relations ( sous-direction des relations commerciales) in 1919, under Jacques Seydoux, reflected the will of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to effectively address economic demands and broaden its scope in the practice of multilateral diplomacy. For Seydoux, finding a practical answer to the question of reparations, considered as an economic, rather than a political or financial problem, was the precondition for the reconstruction of Europe as a whole, without excluding Germany. The plan he elaborated in the fall of 1920 and successfully presented to the Allied and German experts at the Brussels conference in December was based on the increase of reparations in kind, to foster more economic collaboration between France and Germany. Nevertheless, his plan came in too soon; just two years after the armistice. Governments and public opinions were not yet ready to accommodate its terms."