140.00119 Control (Rumania)/3–1745: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman)36
710. Reurtel 805 March 17.37 Please inform Mr. Molotov that the United States Government is studying his reply with reference to the suggestion of this Government that under the Declaration on Liberated Europe signed at the Crimea Conference the three powers should consult with regard to the situation in Rumania, and will communicate with the Soviet Government with respect to the specific points raised by Mr. Molotov.
There are meanwhile certain points of a general nature in regard to the broad meaning and implementation of the Declaration on Liberated [Page 523] Europe which, in the light of Mr. Molotov’s letter, appear to require comment and clarification by this Government.
In undertaking the commitments embodied in the Declaration on Liberated Europe signed by the three heads of Government at the Crimea Conference the United States Government considers that this agreement definitely establishes the principle of joint as against separate responsibility of the three major allies in regard to basic policies towards liberated and former Axis satellite countries in Europe. To this end the Declaration stated:
“They (the signatories) jointly declare their mutual agreement to concert during the temporary period of instability in Liberated Europe the policies of their three governments in assisting the peoples liberated from the domination of Nazi Germany and the peoples of the former Axis satellite states of Europe to solve by democratic means their pressing political and economic problems.”
It was not the intention of the United States Government, nor, it is believed, of either the Soviet or British Government, that the responsibility assumed under this Declaration should in any way be so construed as to weaken or supersede the authority or operation of the Allied Control Commissions in former Axis satellite states. There is indeed no conflict between these responsibilities. The Allied Control Commissions were set up by mutual agreement among the three powers with the specific function of executing and enforcing the terms of armistice, and they function exclusively on that basis. The agreement embodied in the Declaration on Liberated Europe, on the other hand, deals with the coordination of the policies of the three Governments in respect of problems of a more basic nature affecting the future development of these countries and especially the safeguarding of the right of the people concerned freely to choose through democratic processes the Government and the institutions under which they are to live. This Government sees no reason why action under the Declaration in any area should conflict with or weaken the position of an already existing Control Commission.
With reference to the situation in Italy referred to by Mr. Molotov it will be recalled that in addition to the Allied Control Commission specifically charged with enforcing the terms of the armistice there was set up following the Moscow Conference an Advisory Council for Italy, expressly to provide a convenient mechanism, long before the Crimea Declaration had established an agreed basis for consultative machinery, whereby the six governments represented in the Council could, in observing events, make known their views, and submit recommendations on political matters. In the view of this Government the Declaration on Liberated Europe adopted at the Crimea [Page 524] Conference extended this principle, as adopted in regard to Italy, to include other liberated and Axis satellite countries of Europe, though the nature of the machinery through which consultation to be effected in particular instances was not specified. In the opinion of this Government such questions as the formation and character of provisional authorities, the safeguarding of the right of the peoples to hold free and unfettered elections, and similar questions of a far-reaching nature fall within the responsibilities assumed under the Crimea Declaration and cannot, therefore, be settled by the Allied Control Commissions nor by unilateral action of one of the three powers, no matter how directly concerned. Questions of the character outlined above should in the opinion of this Government be the subject of consultation and agreement among the three powers in conformity with the Declaration.
For its part the United States Government could not agree to divest itself of the responsibilities in this regard which it has assumed in the eyes of American public opinion and of the world under the Crimea decisions. It will, therefore, continue to urge upon the Soviet and the British Governments, in conformity with the Crimea decision, the application of the principles of Allied consultation and agreement with regard to any country where in its opinion conditions or developments warrant such action. In turn it would be ready at all times to apply the same principles in cases where consultation may be proposed by either of the other two signatories.