740.5/4–3052: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Dunn) to the Department of State 1
priority
6671. Re Embtel 6619, April 28.2
[Page 646]- 1.
- Fol represents translation of new draft of proposed tripartite
declaration prepared by French after mtg with US and reps of Brit
Emb. Pls send your comments
urgently.
Begin text. Draft tripartite declaration.
The govts of the US of Amer, the UK, and France have today signed with the Ger FedRep agrmts which will establish a new relationship with that country. These agrmts, as well as the treaties for a Eur Def Community and a Eur Coal and Steel Community, of which France is a signatory, provide a new basis for uniting Eur and for associating Ger with the West. They also ensure against any future revival of aggressive militarism. They make possible the removal of special restraints hitherto imposed on the FedRep of Ger and permit its participation as an equal partner in western def.
These conventions and treaties respond to the desire to provide by united efforts for the prosperity and security of Western Eur. The govts of the US and the UK consider that the establishment and development of the two Eur communities correspond to their own basic interests and will therefore lend them every cooperation and support.
Moreover, western def is a common enterprise in which the govts of the US and the UK are already partners through the North Atlantic Treaty Org.
Finally, the three govts recall that the system of reciprocal guarantees established between the member states of the NATO and the member states of the EDC, and between the latter and the UK, applies to the interested countries only as such and as long as they remain parties to one or the other of the treaties creating these orgs.
For these various reasons the govts of the US and UK have, as also has the govt of France, an abiding interest in the effectiveness of the treaty creating the EDC and in the strength and integrity of that community. Accordingly, if any action from whatever quarter threatens the integrity or unity of the community, the two govts wld consider the matter of the greatest concern to them, calling for consultation under Art IV of the NAT in order to reach agrmt on measures to meet the situation thus created. Moreover, they have both expressed their resolve to station such forces on the Continent of Eur as may be necessary and appropriate to contribute their fair share to the joint def of the North Atlantic area, having regard to their interests in the integrity of EDC, their obligations under the NAT, and their special responsibilities in Ger. End text.
- 2.
- Brit reps said Kirkpatrick strongly of opinion, and Brit FonOff inclined to agree, that Chancellor Adenauer wld insist on issuance of unilateral statement on Berlin and Ger, as agreed with him in Nov 1951.3 Brit view consequently was that language on countries benefiting from system only as long as they are members of two orgs shld be deleted and that appropriate change shld be made in last para. [Page 647] French reps took flat position that this was out of question and, after French made very convincing presentation of their point of view, Brit Emb agreed to ask Brit FonOff to reconsider position.
- Repeated to London, Bonn, Rome, The Hague, Brussels, and Luxembourg.↩
- Not printed; it contained the drafts of two letters proposed by the French Foreign Ministry. One was to Chancellor Adenauer which would transmit the text of the tripartite declaration to the Federal Republic; the other was to the Mayor of Berlin confirming the integrity of Berlin as an essential element of the peace of the free world and pledging the maintenance of French, British, and American armed forces within the territory of Berlin so long as tripartite responsibilities and the world situation required (740.5/4–2852).↩
- Regarding the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of France, the United States, and the United Kingdom with Chancellor Adenauer at Paris, Nov. 22, 1951, see Foreign Relations, 1951, vol. iii, Part 1, the editorial note on p. 1312.↩