Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, Council of Foreign Ministers, Volume II

C.F.M. Files: Lot M–88: Box 2065: Deputies Documents

Proposal by the French Delegation to the Conference of Deputies of the Council of Foreign Ministers⁶²

secret
C.F.M.(D) (46) 53

2 April, 1946.

Paris Conference

I. Organs of the Conference (respective powers)

1) The Conference

2) The General Commission consisting of all the invited States in the persons of their heads of delegation. The Conference would refer to the General Commission the treaty drafts submitted by the Council of Foreign Ministers. The General Commission would study these and submit to the Conference such recommendations as it thought fit.

This Commission could, if necessary, set up ad hoc Committees such as a Legal Committee or a Drafting Committee.

3) Technical Commissions to which the General Commission would refer questions for examination as its work progressed.

There would be four such Commissions,—the General Commission reserving the right to appoint others.

a) Economic, Financial and Technical Commission

b) Commission on Territorial Questions

c) Military Commission

d) Commission on Colonial Questions

These Commissions would consist of all the States attending the Conference: they might split up into sub-commissions, form sub-committees in order to study particular questions; such sub-committees would, of course, include representatives of the States directly interested in the examination of the question.

II. Chairmen, Rapporteurs.

The Chairmanship of the Conference would be held in turn by each of the members of the Council of Foreign Ministers in alphabetical order, each Chairman holding office for one week.

The Chairman of the Conference would be the Chairman of the General Commission. The General Commission might appoint one or more rapporteurs.

The Technical Commissions would elect a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman; they would also appoint rapporteurs.

III. Invitation to States non-members of the Conference

(See Rules of Procedure, Article 12.)

IV. Publicity of the Meetings; Records.

The meetings of the Conference shall be public unless otherwise decided. The Meetings of the Commissions would be private.

Full records will be kept of the Meetings of the Conference. No records would be kept of Meetings of Commissions. A summary record would, however, be kept giving a list of the questions discussed and the decisions taken. The representatives of the States attending the Conference may ask that their statements on a particular point should be included in such summary record.

V. Official and working languages

English, French and Russian would be the official and working languages of the Conference and Commissions.

VI. Secretariat

1) Under the direction of a Secretary-General who would be appointed by the Conference at its first Meeting, the organisation of the Conference would include:

• —an administrative Secretariat;
• —a Secretariat responsible for the work of the Conference and the Commissions.

2) The administrative Secretariat could be exclusively French.

3) A Secretariat of ten members would be set up including a representative of each of the five inviting States and five other members appointed by the General Commission, two of whom would be allotted to act as secretaries of the General Commission and the four technical Commissions respectively.

The additional staff, necessary for the working of the Secretariat would be provided by the French Government and the various delegations.

4) The duties of the Secretariat would be:—

a) To help the Conference and General Commission;

b) To supervise and co-ordinate the work of the secretariats of the special Commissions, sub-commissions and sub-committees, and to ensure liaison between these bodies and the General Commission.

5) The Secretariat of each Commission would be supplied by the Secretariat of the Conference.

6) A Committee consisting of representative of the Press Services of the ten Delegations forming the Secretariat would be responsible, under the authority of the Chairman of the Conference, directly or through the Secretary-General for preparing from time to time communiqués designed to keep the general public informed of the progress of the work of the Conference.

In order that this organisation should be ready when the Conference meets it would be advisable if the Secretaries of the five Great Powers were to meet in Paris at least ten days before the opening date of the Conference in order to agree on the necessary practical arrangements.

London, 3 April, 1946.

[On April 4, 1946, the Secretary of State transmitted a message through the American Embassies at London, Moscow, and Paris to Foreign Minister Bevin, Foreign Minister Molotov, and Foreign Minister Bidault, suggesting the holding of a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers at Paris beginning April 25 and urging that the Deputies be instructed to press forward their work on the draft peace treaties. The text of the message, which, with the exception of the date for the proposed meeting, is identical with the draft message quoted in telegram 1998, March 5, to London, page 22, is printed in the Department of State Bulletin, April 14, 1946, page 624.]

62. This paper was circulated to the Deputies at their 34th Meeting, held in London, April 2, 1946, and it was subsequently discussed by the Deputies in Paris at their 92nd and 93rd Meetings, July 5 and 6, 1946. The paper was referred by the Deputies to the Council of Foreign Ministers which discussed it at the Council’s 36th and 37th Meetings, July 6 and July 8, 1946, and at the Council’s 15th Informal Meeting, July 8, 1946. For the United States Delegation Records of these Council meetings, see pp. 801, 817, and 828. For the paper on the organization and procedure of the Paris Peace Conference as finally approved by the Council of Foreign Ministers, see C.F.M. (46) 204, July 9, 1946, p. 852.