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

C.F.M. Files: Lot M–88: Box 2080: Records of Decisions

Record of Decisions, Council of Foreign Ministers, Third Session, Twenty-Third Meeting, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, December 12, 1946, 4 p.m.⁷⁹

New York, December 12, 1946, 4 p.m.

secret
CFM (46) (NY)23rd Meeting, December 12, 1946.

Present

	U.S.S.R.
	M. Molotov (Chairman)
	M. Gousev
	M. Novikov
U.S.A		U.K.
Mr. Byrnes		Mr. Bevin
Mr. Dunn		Mr. Jebb
Mr. Cohen		Sir O. Harvey
		Sir William Strang
		Mr. Gregory
		Lord Hood
	France
	M. Couve de Murville
	M. Alphand
	M. de Saint-Hardouin

I Approval of Records of Previous Meetings

The records of the 34th, 35th, 36th, 37th, 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st, and 42nd Meetings of the Second Session of the Council held in Paris and the Records of the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Meetings of the Third Session held in New York were approved.

II Report by the Deputies

The Council heard the Report of the Acting Chairman of the Deputies (See CFM(D) (46) (NY)133rd Meeting).⁸⁰

III Letter From the Chairman of the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency

It was decided to defer consideration of the letter received from the Chairman of the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency until the Council’s next session.⁸¹

IV Terms of Reference of the Commission for the Investigation of the Financial Situation of the Free Territory of Trieste

The Council approved the draft terms of reference for this Commission as submitted by the Deputies (See Record of Decisions of the 133rd Meeting of the Deputies).⁸²

V Permanent Statute of the Free Territory of Trieste: Article 24, Para. 5

Para. 5, Article 24, of the Permanent Statute of the Free Territory of Trieste was adopted as recommended by the Deputies (see Record of Decisions of the 133rd Meeting of the Deputies).⁸³

VI Articles on the Settlement of Economic Disputes in the Peace Treaties With Italy, Roumania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Finland

The Council adopted the wording recommended by the Deputies for the Articles concerning settlement of economic disputes in the above Treaties (see Record of Decisions of the 133rd Meeting of the Deputies).⁸⁴

VII 17th Report of the Committee of Naval Experts

The Council approved the 17th Report of the Committee of Naval Experts (CFM(46) (NY)65).⁸⁵

VIII Publication of Declaration Regarding the Danube Conference

The Council agreed to publish the declaration of the Four Ministers concerning the Conference on the Danube by midnight (New York time) on December 12, 1946.⁸⁶

IX Publication of the Text of the Five Peace Treaties

It was decided to publish the texts of the Peace Treaties with Italy, Roumania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland a day after the relevant treaty texts have been handed to the representatives in Washington of the States signatory to the Treaties.

X Protocol on the Appointment of a Governor of the Free Territory of Trieste

The Protocol concerning the appointment of a Governor of the Free Territory of Trieste (CFM(46) (NY)77)⁸⁷ was signed, and it was agreed to instruct the representatives on the Security Council of the Four Powers members of the Council of Foreign Ministers to exchange views regarding candidates for the Governorship of the Free Territory.

XI Peace Treaty With Italy: Articles 4 and 16 (Description of Boundary of the Free Territory of Trieste)

The Council approved the text recommended by the Deputies as a description of the frontier of the Free Territory of Trieste (see Doc. CFM(46) (NY)72 and Record of Decisions of the 133rd Meeting of the Deputies).⁸⁸

XII Instrument for the Provisional Regime of the Free Territory of Trieste (Article 9)

The Council adopted the text of Article 9 of this Instrument, as recommended by the Deputies (see Record of Decisions of the 133rd Meeting of the Deputies).⁸⁸

XIII Commercial Aviation:

• Italian Treaty: Article 71
• Roumanian Treaty: Article 30
• Bulgarian Treaty: Article 28
• Hungarian Treaty: Article 29
• Finnish Treaty: Article 28
• Permanent Statute of Trieste: Article 32

The Council adopted with slight amendments the additional paragraph concerning commercial aviation recommended by the Paris Conference for the above Articles concerning General Economic Relations in all Treaties, and agreed to adopt Article 32 of the Permanent Statute of the Free Territory accordingly. The text adopted was as follows:

“Italy shall grant no exclusive or discriminatory right to any country with regard to the operation of commercial aircraft in international traffic, shall afford all the United Nations equality of opportunity in obtaining international commercial aviation rights in Italian territory including the right to land for refueling and repair, and, with regard to the operation of commercial aircraft in international traffic, shall grant on a reciprocal and non-discriminatory basis to all United Nations the right to fly over Italian territory without landing. These provisions shall not affect the interests of the national defence of Italy.”

XIV Peace Treaty With Italy: Annex XIII, Paragraphs 5 and 6 (See Doc. CFM(46) (NY)71 and Record of Decisions of the 133rd Meeting of the Deputies.)⁹⁰

The Council

(a) adopted the following text for Sub-paragraph 2 of Paragraph 6 of Annex XIII:

“The removal of property to Italy will be effected under conditions which will not be in contradiction with the Constitution of the Free Territory of Trieste, and in the manner agreed upon between Italy and the Free Territory.”

(b) substituted “determined” for “agreed” in Sub-paragraph 3 of Paragraph 6.

(c) adopted Paragraphs 5 and 6 as they appear in CFM(46) (NY) 71, subject to the above amendments, and to the deletion of the words “[and remain in the Free Territory]” from Paragraph 5.

XV Italian Treaty: Annex IX: Technical Dispositions for the Free Territory of Trieste (See Documents CFM(46) (NY)71 and 75, and Record of Decisions of the 133rd Meeting of the Deputies.)⁹¹

The Council approved the 10th Report of the Committee of Economic Experts (CFM(46) (NY)75),⁹² and adopted the texts recommended by the Economic Committee for Annex IX in document CFM(46) (NY)71.⁹³

XVI Economic and Financial Provisions of the Instrument for the Provisional Regime in Trieste (See Doc. CFM(46) (NY)71 and Record of Decisions of the 133rd Meeting of the Deputies.)⁹¹

(1) The U.S./U.K. proposal of Article 11 of the Instrument was withdrawn.⁹⁴

(2) Article 12 of the Instrument was adopted in the wording proposed by the U.S. and U.K. delegations in document CFM(46) (NY) 71, after deletion of the following passages:

(a) “and Italian currency and foreign exchange … between the Free Territory and Italy.”

(b) “in connection with the introduction of a separate currency in the Free Territory.”

(3) Article 13 of the Instrument was not adopted.

XVII Italian Treaty: Article 69

The U.S., U.K., and French delegates withdrew their proposals for additional sub-paragraphs 5(h) and 5(i) to this Article (see Record of Decisions of the 129th Meeting of the Deputies, Annex IV).⁹⁵

XVIII Italian Treaty: Annex III, Para. 5 (Italian Property Rights in Ceded Territories). (See Doc. CFM(46) (NY)30, page 4)⁹⁶

The Soviet Delegation having withdrawn its proposed amendment to para. 5 of Annex III of the Italian Treaty, it was agreed to adopt this paragraph.

XIX Next Session of the Council

The Council approved the draft resolution submitted by the Committee of Representatives of the Four Ministers regarding the next session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM(46) (NY)74).⁹⁷

XX Disposal of the Italian Fleet

1. Allocation

The Council accepted the Report of the Naval Committee, CFM (46)250 (restricted distribution) dated August 5, 1946, and decided to allot Lists A, B and C⁹⁸ as included in that report as follows:

• List A—U.S.A.
• List B—U.S.S.R.
• List C—U.K.

The U.S. and U.K. Delegations having withdrawn their reservations regarding the sinking of Italian submarines received for experimental purposes, it was agreed that those submarines need not be sunk.⁹⁹

2. Instructions to the Naval Committee for the Preparation of a Protocol

The Council gave the following instructions to the Committee of Naval Experts regarding the drafting of a Protocol allocating the surplus units of the Italian Navy. The draft Protocol should contain the following basic points:

(a) Creation of a Four-Power Naval Commission to handle the details of the disposition of the surplus units of the Italian Navy, as previously determined by the Ministers.

(b) This Commission to work under the direction of the Council of Foreign Ministers until the Peace Treaty with Italy comes into force and thereafter under the direction of the Four Ambassadors in Home.

(c) The Protocol to provide for the return by the Soviet Union of vessels lent to it, as far as possible simultaneously with receipt of Italian vessels by the U.S.S.R.

3. Reply to the Request of the Netherlands Government

The Council agreed to send the Netherlands Government a letter notifying it that the U.S. and U.K. Governments had agreed to give partial satisfaction to the Netherlands Government’s request and to suggest that the latter Government should open direct negotiations with the U.S. and U.K. Governments. It was decided that the Naval Committee should draft the text of the letter to the Netherlands Government.²

XXI Close of the Third Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers in New York

The Council noted that its work on preparing the Peace Treaties with Italy, Roumania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland had been completed.

The Acting Chairman and the Members of the Council expressed their indebtedness to the U.S. Government for the hospitality accorded to the Council during the current session.

XXII Next Meeting

It was agreed to close the Third Plenary Session of the Council.

79. A marginal notation indicates that this Record was provisional.
80. Ante, p. 1532.
81. For text of the communication under reference, dated October 8, 1946, see enclosure 1, p. 1562.
82. Item V, p. 1533.
83. Item VI, p. 1534.
84. Item III, p. 1533.
85. Ante, p. 1491.
86. The Declaration Regarding the Danube Conference is included as Annex 5 to the Record of Decisions of the 129th Meeting of the Deputies, December 6, 1946, p. 1446.
87. Post, p. 1558.
88. Item II, p. 1533.
88. Item II, p. 1533.
90. Item VII, p. 1534. The paragraphs under reference are further explained in footnote 58, p. 1537.
91. Item VII, p. 1534.
92. The document under reference presented a new draft of Annex IX, Part A. That text was subsequently included in the final Treaty of Peace with Italy as a separate annex, Annex V.
93. The texts under reference, Parts B, C, and D of Annex IX, were subsequently included in the Treaty of Peace with Italy as Parts A, B, and C, respectively, of Annex IX.
91. Item VII, p. 1534.
94. The substance of the proposal under reference, which appeared in point 7 of CFM(46) (NY)71, not printed, is presented in footnote 11, p. 1514.
95. Annex IV of the Record of Decisions of the 129th Meeting of the Deputies, December 6, 1946, is not printed, but see item VI of that Record, p. 1442. For the texts of the sub-paragraphs 5 (h) and (i) under reference here, see footnote 10, p. 1514.
96. For text of document CFM(46) (NY)30, November 26, 1946, see p. 1296.
97. Infra.
98. The 13th Report of the Naval Committee, CFM(46)250, August 5, 1946, is not printed, but the lists A, B, and C, contained therein are described in footnote 25, p. 1455.
99. The substance of the reservations of the United States and the United Kingdom referred to here, as contained in CFM(46)250, are described in footnote 76, p. 1547.

2. On December 18, 1946, the Naval Committee submitted to the Secretary General of the Council of Foreign Ministers the following letter which it had prepared in pursuance of the Council’s instructions:

   “I am etc. to inform you that the Council of Foreign Ministers has given careful consideration to the claim, forwarded to them by the Netherlands Government on the 8th September, 1946, for a share of the excess naval units of the Italian fleet.

   • “2. The Council regrets that it has not been found possible to allocate to the Netherlands Government the ships desired. The Governments of the United States of America and of the United Kingdom have, however, agreed to satisfy, at least in part, the claim of the Netherlands Government, from tonnage at the disposal of the United States and United Kingdom Governments.
   • “3. The Netherlands Government is therefore requested to enter into direct negotiations to this end with the Governments of the United States and of the United Kingdom.” (CFM Files, Lot M–88, Box 2079, CFM Documents)