868.01/7–844: Telegram
The Chargé Near the Greek Government in Exile (Shantz) to the Secretary of State
[Received 11:32 p.m.]
Greek 216. The Greek Government last night released an account of Thursday’s Cabinet meeting at which the new demands of EAM (my Greek 213, July 65) were considered and rejected (my Greek 214, July 65). Papandreou opened the meeting by reading first a telegram received July 3 from Porphyrogennis and Sarafis listing counts on which EAM considered the Government to have violated the Lebanon Agreement, and second, the telegram in which these and other demands were formulated as “our final terms”. He read his reply to each condition in turn and then asked for the opinion of his Ministers. The account concluded with his summary of. the unanimous view of the Government that EAM’s demands not merely constitute a modification of the Lebanon Agreement but actually “upset its basis” and that to accept them would be tantamount to turning Greece over to the rule of a minority group.
Text of release follows by airgram.6
[Page 130]It is now generally felt by the partisans of both sides that the break is final. The Leftist delegates say that they made a last minute but vain effort to persuade Papandreou and the British Ambassador that negotiations might still be possible on the basis of EAM’s new demands. Discussing particularly the two points which the Government found most difficult of acceptance, that is, that the ELAS army be kept intact until liberation and that the Leftists should have 7 (not 6 as previously reported) out of a total of 15 Ministries and Under-Ministries, they point out with regard to the first that the Government would be better off with even nominal control of ELAS than with none at all, while with regard to the second they profess to believe that a compromise solution can still be reached. However, Svolos and his colleagues seem to be voices crying in the wilderness, for on one hand the tone of EAM’s most recent telegram, regardless of the character of its demands, is of such belligerence as to suggest that EAM leaders intended to provoke a break, while on the other hand it would appear that such a break is far from unsatisfactory to a number of Cabinet members, if not to Papandreou himself.
I am informed that arrangements are already being made to send the Leftist delegates back to Greece. This is in accordance with their instructions (my Greek 213) but it appears that the initiative has been taken by the Greek Government and British authorities [apparent omission] have not consulted the wishes of the delegates.
Papandreou has asked Mr. Leeper for a strong statement by the British Government in support of his own Government, maintaining that the present impasse is matter of Allied concern, since without unity in Greece there would be little fighting against Germans. Leeper said he sent this request to London for consideration.
Repeated to Algiers for Murphy as No. 29.