740.00119 Control (Bulgaria)/11–1644
The Department of State to the British Embassy
Memorandum
The Secretary of State refers to the British Embassy’s memorandum no. 692 of November 16, 1944,60 requesting the views of the United States Government with reference to the advisability of constituting an Advisory Commission for Bulgaria, which would include political representatives of the U.S.S.R., the United States, Great Britain, Greece and possibly Yugoslavia.
The Department is strongly of the opinion that the Greek Government should have some channel of communication for putting forward its demands and claims against Bulgaria, preferably in the form of Greek representatives resident in Sofia, with regularized status establishing their relations with the Allied Control Commission.
The Department entertains some doubts, however, as to the advisability of creating an Advisory Commission for Bulgaria on the model of the Italian Advisory Commission. There is some question whether more membership on such a commission would constitute an effective means of achieving the results desired by the Greek Government, principally because (1) it would not afford the Greek member direct access to the Control Commission, and (2) it would diminish the power and delay the consideration of representations made by him, since such representations would have first to be submitted to a discussion group, and in some cases be subsequently referred back to the respective Governments for instructions.
It is the understanding of the Department that a Greek delegation arrived in Sofia on November 13, being the second of its kind, for the purpose of arranging deliveries to Greece from Bulgaria pursuant [Page 492] to the Armistice terms. It is further understood that the Soviet acting head of the Control Commission61 has advised the Greek delegation to obtain due powers from the Greek Prime Minister personally and has indicated that Greek requests for immediate deliveries from Bulgaria will receive consideration as soon as a delegation is formally accredited.
Since time is of the essence in arranging for Bulgarian deliveries to Greece, the Department suggests that the Greek delegation described above, or a similar delegation duly accredited by the Greek Government, would constitute an effective channel of communicating the demands and claims of the Greek Government against Bulgaria. If the British Government agrees to this suggestion, the Department will send appropriate instructions to its representative at Sofia to recommend that further discussions in the matter be undertaken in the Control Commission.