C.F.M. Files: Lot M–88: Box 2080: CFM Documents
Statement by the Italian Ambassador ( Tarchiani ) to the Council of Foreign Ministers, November 6, 1946 70
CFM (46) (NY) 6
Mr. Chairman, Your Excellencies: It was my understanding that I was restricted today to present the views of the, Italian Government on the single subject of Trieste, the proposed Free Territory, its international status and Constitution.
[Page 1039]Although I have listened to the far broader argument brought up by the Yugoslav representative, I shall limit myself to these particular subjects in keeping with the decision of the Paris Conference on Oct. 4th.
I would, however, be lacking in candor and would default in my duty to do everything possible to assure a sound basis for a just and enduring peace, which my Government craves above all other considerations and for which it is even prepared to make national sacrifices, if I did not at least direct your reconsideration to the basic fact that this restricted question is a vital factor in the life and future of the new democratic Italy as it was pointed out only three days ago in the new appeal that my Government addressed to you.
This problem cannot be evaluated and judged as a thing apart from the general peace settlement and from the very life of the new Italian Republic, as the anxious attention of the Italian people is focused on it and its resolution by you will have a telling repercussion on their reception of, and life under, the entire peace settlement and will weigh heavily on the birth and development of the new Italian democratic republic. Allow me to add that the whole Italian people are looking up to you earnestly hoping that this appeal will not be in vain and that their trust in the superior justice of the Big Powers, on which rests so great a part of the responsibility for future peace, progress and international collaboration, will not be frustrated.
Coming to the main point under consideration today, namely the matter of the proposed new Free Territory of Trieste, I feel it is imperative to state once again that in the opinion of the Italian Government the whole question of the Italo-Yugoslav frontier should have been, and still could be, settled on the basis of a free consultation of the population in the contested areas.
A proposal to that effect, in keeping with one of the basic principles of the Atlantic Charter and of the Statute of the United Nations, which has embodied it, has been repeatedly advanced by the Italian Delegation at the Paris Conference. Unfortunately that proposal, which would have afforded the best practical means of application of the principle of the ethnic line approved by this same Council in London, was left unheeded. The Italian Government has again brought it forward, in its message to you.71 I again earnestly commend it to your most serious attention as the minimum means of arriving at and effectuating a settlement consonant with the “consent of the governed” and with the equitable and democratic principles of the Atlantic Charter and the Statute of the United Nations. In this connection, I can not refrain from reminding you that the frontier line [Page 1040] agreed upon on July 3rd, 1946 represents a cruel mutilation of the patrimony of the Italian people leaving large masses of our brothers under alien rule without their consent democratically expressed, and without international guarantees for the security of their human rights.
These considerations have also a direct bearing on the question of the proposed Free Territory. The Italian Government has already expressed its views on this subject. Summing them up briefly, I am instructed to confirm that, apart from all other obvious considerations directly affecting Italian public opinion, the plan appears to be a dangerous compromise. It is to say the least, questionable whether the new International body as proposed, would have the necessary economic and political vitality and independence. Moreover, it would be fundamentally anti-democratic, as an imposition, without affording the population concerned the right of expressing their own will on such vital matter as their severance from their mother country. Italy could only, then, find a positive reason for the creation of the Free Territory if the latter were at least to offer a solution for the tragic plight of the populations of Western Istria. Their prevalent Italian character was unanimously recognized by the Four Powers Commission and yet the resolution of July 3rd would place them, unnaturally and unjustly, under an imposed alien rule.
In view of these circumstances the Italian Government feels compelled to again emphasize the serious responsibilities which the Council of Foreign Ministers is about to take upon itself. It is still hoped and we again urge that a way can be found to an equitable and workable solution of the problem of Italy’s Eastern frontiers based on the principles which my Government has repeatedly and clearly set forth. In the meanwhile, as the opinion of the Italian Delegation on the Free Territory is as above stated, you can readily understand that it is extremely difficult for us, and indeed even contradictory, to come forward with a full set of positive suggestions either on the international Statute or on the internal Constitution of the Free Territory, thus sharing the responsibility for its creation. The few remarks that I am authorized to make at this stage, are therefore necessarily of a very general character.
If we have rightly understood, the governing idea as far as the International Statute is concerned, is that the independence and integrity of the Free Territory is to be guaranteed by the Security Council of the U.N.O. Perhaps I may point out, in this connection, that the present set up and functioning of the Security Council does not promise the full necessary guarantees in the case of direct or indirect interferences against the independence and integrity of the Free Territory. [Page 1041] In fact the right of veto on the part of any of the five Powers who have a permanent seat on the Security Council, could block any effective action in preventing or rejecting such interferences.
Once this problem is solved, it is the opinion of the Italian Delegation that the Governor of the Free Territory, in his capacity as representative of the Security Council, should be vested with all the necessary powers in order to guarantee and preserve the international status of the Free Territory. This, I notice, seems to have been accepted in fact by all the drafts under discussion.
On the other hand, as far as the internal administration of the Free Territory is concerned, the aim of the Council of Foreign Ministers is the creation of a free democracy in which citizens, liberated of all fears of external interference and internal violence, should be in a position freely to form and express their opinion, to develop their institutions, to solve all problems—political, social or economical—in short to work out their own way of life in freedom security and with future promise.
With this general aim the Italian Delegation agrees, since it feels that it is only within the framework of a free and sound democracy that the peaceful cooperation between the resident nationalities can develop. And this, let me assure you, is the most ardent wish of the Italian Government. To effectuate this the powers of the Governor should be restricted to those of insuring full respect for a Constitution freely adopted by the population of the Free Territory. For this same reason, the provisions of the Peace Treaty, as far as internal administration is concerned, should only prescribe the general principles on which the Constitution of the Free Territory should be based: namely the same principles which any country member of the U.N.O. is morally engaged to respect, and that are contained in the guarantees of the “Four Freedoms”.
As I have already stated, it is the considered opinion of the Italian Delegation, that also from the economic and financial point of view, the proposed Free Territory can hardly be called vital. If, however, the Council of Foreign Ministers finally decide to set up such a Free Territory, it is imperative that certain internationally guaranteed principles be laid down. First and most important is a guarantee of the undisturbed and unrestricted flow of traffic between the port of Trieste and the countries which constitute its natural hinterland, namely the industrial centers of Austria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, and any other country concerned. It is therefore necessary that the countries of the immediate hinterland of Trieste should pledge themselves, under International guarantee, not to adopt any discriminatory and prohibitory measures against international traffic to and from [Page 1042] the port of Trieste. Once this principle is accepted, the Italian Delegation will present a more detailed report on this essential matter.
Mr. Chairman, Your Excellencies: Bringing this statement to a close, I feel I must emphasize once more that we Italians have limited ourselves to outlining a few general principles since we cannot overcome our reluctance against actively contributing to a settlement of our Eastern frontier in which we do not believe and which we cannot voluntarily accept because of its human injustice, its practical inefficiency, its denial of democratic principles and its failure to carry out the hopes held forth to all nations by the Atlantic Charter.