881.00/8–645: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Caffery) to the Secretary of State
4724. From Villard. Soviet delegation to Tangier Conference has arrived in Paris and consists of Kozyrev47 with rank of Minister, Dourdenevski and Bondarenko as experts and Vidiassov Second Secretary. USSR has informed French Govt that it has no objection to the program indicated for the conference but that it will present several reserves and additions to certain provisions of the Statute of 1923.
It is probable that the forthcoming conversations will hinge largely on the issue of Spanish participation in the interim regime. Russia may be expected to take a strong stand on this question in line with the Potsdam Declaration on Spain48 and to favor a Four Power administration of the international zone by France, Great Britain, Russia and the US.
We feel that for practical reasons we should have to oppose any Soviet demand for the complete elimination of Spain from the Tangier administration. If we can obtain agreement on this point and if the Dept approves we would propose that the conference issue a joint public statement along the following lines:
“The Govts of the USA, USSR, United Kingdom and France declare that the admission of the authorities of the present Govt, of Spain [Page 627] in the provisional administration of Tangier does not imply in any sense a departure from the Potsdam Declaration of August 2, 1945 on Spain but must be regarded as the sole practicable means in the present circumstances of taking into account the interests of the Spanish nation and people in the settlement of the Tangier question.”
We believe that the issuance of such a statement would in any case serve a useful purpose by allaying possible criticism of the acceptance of Spanish participation in Tangier so soon after the Potsdam Declaration. The Dept’s comment would be appreciated.
Meyrier states that the French Govt has received through its Embassy in London a communication from the representative of Negrin49 dated July 23 stating that Negrin was opposed to any change in the Tangier Statute of 1923. Meyrier interprets this as an expression of the strong feeling on the part of loyal[ist] Spanish50 to any attempt to dispossess Spain of its position in Tangier under the Statute. [Villard.]
- S. P. Kozyrev, Head of the First European Department of the Soviet Foreign Office.↩
- See Conference of Berlin (Potsdam),vol. ii, p. 1510. The statement, contained in the Communiqué of the Potsdam Conference, indicated that the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union would not favor an application by Spain for membership in the United Nations in view of Spain’s Fascist antecedents and associations; for related documentation, see ibid., pp. 1171 ff.↩
- Juan Negrin, Prime Minister of Spain, 1937–1939, under the Republican regime, and in exile since the victory of the forces under General Franco in 1939.↩
- i.e., supporters of the Republican regime.↩