840.50/10–2744: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant)
10250. Refer your 9263, October 27. The U.S. side of the CPRB42 and CRMB43 Combined Coal Committee has again raised the desirability of going forward with the establishment of an organization to deal with continental European coal problems. They feel that the matter is urgent and should be taken up without waiting for agreement on the European Economic Committee, even though it be planned to have any coal organization a part of EEC when the latter is set up.
The above proposal is based on a belief that without concerted action in planning the production of continental coal and the distribution and use of both continental and imported coal, it will be extremely difficult to meet the minimum continental coal requirements in the next few years. It further contemplates that the participation of U.S., U.K., and U.S.S.R. would be along the lines mentioned in our previous discussions of EEC.
Before responding to the proposal to proceed immediately with a coal organization, we should like the Embassy’s views as to the effect this might have on the setting up of EEC and also whether it would [Page 635] have an adverse effect if preliminary discussions and the preparation of proposals were carried on through the Combined Coal Committee without Russian participation.