Background
The early French plans were concerned with keeping Germany weak and strengthening the French economy at the expense of that of Germany (see the Monnet Plan). French foreign policy aimed at dismantling German heavy industry, place the coal rich Ruhr area and Rhineland under French control or at a minimum internationalize them, and also to join the coal rich Saarland with the iron rich province of Lorraine (which had been handed over from Germany to France again in 1944). 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 in January 1, 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 the US government stated in the Stuttgart speech Restatement of Policy on Germany that it 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."
Read more about this topic: International Authority For The Ruhr
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