Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, Council of Foreign Ministers; Germany and Austria, Volume III

740.0011 EW (Peace)/12–249: Telegram

The Ambassador in France (Bruce) to the United States Deputy for Austria at the Council of Foreign Ministers (Reber)

top secret

Paris, December 2, 1949—10 p.m.

15.¹ USUN for Reber.

1. I saw Mr. Schuman at 7 o’clock tonight, with British Ambassador.² He said that he would agree with our position in regard to the Austrian army. He stated that although there were various things in the proposed treaty which he did not like, he would accept it with the exception of paragraph 5 Article 16. On this he would never cede. He felt that this question was one of no material concern to France but that from the standpoint of international morality it was the most important clause in the treaty. He said that he had made his position in this regard very plain to Messrs. Bevin and Acheson at their last meeting in New York about October 1.³ He recalled that on the occasion he had told the other ministers that not to make proper provision for the protection of displaced persons and refugees in Austrian territory would be a criminal neglect of the duty which they owed humanity. He said that this sentiment had been fully shared by Mr. Acheson who had agreed with him that to allow the Russians any pretext to seize upon these unfortunate persons would be outrageous.

2. He said that it had been his understanding that the Russians had expressed an intention to agree to the stand of the three Western Allies on other clauses of the treaty provided that Soviet wishes in regard to Article 35 were complied with, but that after satisfying Soviets on Article 35, the other three powers had allowed themselves to be out-traded on other disputed points. He went on to say that quite frankly in his personal opinion there was some question as to the wisdom of signing as imperfect a treaty as the one under discussion, especially since the present Austrian Government has shown itself so responsive to narrow domestic political influences. He had the impression that since a treaty on almost any terms would gain for it temporary political popularity the Austrian Government was more concerned with such reactions than it was in safeguarding some of its own very fundamental interests and that in its eagerness to have an immediate treaty, it would certainly not worry overmuch about safeguarding the future of strangers in its midst. He wanted to make it quite clear however that he had no desire whatever to delay the signature of the treaty and that his position on Article 16 was not in any respect a pretext for such delay.

3. It is my conviction that Mr. Schuman is unalterably opposed to any language in the treaty which either directly or by implication would jeopardize the position of refugees past, present and future. He says that his representatives in New York are thoroughly conversant with the language to which he would agree. He pointed out that displaced persons would still be taken care of during the life of IRO by the funds of that international organization and time would be given for their eventual disposition and settlement, but in the case of refugees they will be left without any protection whatever, which aside from its bearing on the current problem in Austria, might become a precedent if similar cases should arise elsewhere in the future.

4. Mr. Schuman’s attitude and expressions during this meeting were marked by a gravity and depth of feeling unusual even for him.⁴

Sent Department 5104; repeated London 892, Vienna 87, Department pass USUN New York 15.

Bruce

1. The source text is the copy in the Department of State files.
2. Sir Oliver C. Harvey.
3. Schuman was probably referring to the tripartite meeting in New York, September 28, at which the Austrian Treaty was discussed. A summary of this meeting was transmitted in Delau 304, September 28, p. 1163.
4. On December 5, the Counselor of the French Embassy, Wapler, handed Williamson another aide-mémoire explaining the French position on the treaty and reiterating the French misgivings over the concessions to the Soviet Union. The texts of the aide-mémoire and the memorandum of conversation with Wapler, neither printed, are in files 740.00119 Council/12–549 and 740.0011EW(Peace)/12–549. On the following day the French Foreign Ministry agreed to the Soviet text for Article 16 provided the four Deputies understood that the provisions of paragraph 5 concerned displaced persons. Telegram 5128, December 6, from Paris, not printed (740.0011EW(Peace)/12–649).