Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, Paris Peace Conference: Documents, Volume IV

Doc. No. 13 (E).

Memorandum on the Clauses of the Draft Peace Treaty Concerning Italy’s Responsibility for All Requisitions Made by the Allied Authorities and for All Currency Issued by Said Authorities (Art. 66, Nos. 2, 4)

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Article 66

Apart from the legal aspects of Article 66 and other problems raised by the same Article, attention is drawn to two particular matters which might be more usefully dealt with outside the Peace Treaty, in view of the fact that they do not concern all the United Nations but merely those which actually occupied Italian soil, and that they have, moreover, already been the subject of an exchange of views between Italy and the same occupying Powers.

The second paragraph [sentence] of No. 2 of Article 66 reads as follows:

“The Italian Government agrees to make equitable compensation in lire to persons who furnished supplies or services on requisition to the forces of the Allied or Associated Powers in Italian territory and in satisfaction of non-combat damage claims against the forces of the Allied and Associated Power arising in Italian territory.”

N. 4 of the same Article states:

“The Italian Government will assume full responsibility for all Allied military currency issued in Italy by the Allied military authorities, including all such currency in circulation on the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty.”

With regard to the second paragraph of No. 2 of Article 66 (apart from the obligation which is imposed on Italy to compensate non-combat damage claims, a point to be taken up in another memorandum on Article 66) the occupying Powers have considered the whole question of requisition of goods and services and relative payments as regulated by Article 33 (A) of the Armistice of 29th September 1943.

With regard to No. 4 of Article 66, these same Powers have up to now considered the question as regulated by Article 23 of that same Armistice.

They are both, in fact, questions of a temporary character strictly connected with the occupation of Italian territory.

In view of the fact that the occupation has been prolonged over a period far more extensive than could possibly have been foreseen at the time of the Armistice, the Italian Government has long since approached the occupying Powers (U.S.A. and Great Britain) asking that a benevolent interpretation should be placed on those clauses in order to lighten the staggering onus they carried with them and which has so notably contributed to the deterioration of the economy and finances of the country.

On their side, the occupying Powers, far from turning down this request of the Italian Government, have recognized that even if some of the Armistice clauses were formulated somewhat loosely, this is no reason for interpreting them in their strictest sense and for disregarding the sacrifices incurred by Italy through her war efforts as a co-belligerent.

If now all the above questions should be solved as provided in the draft Peace Treaty, the entire onus of all payments past and future, of all requisitions, and the entire responsibility for the Am-lire issued would bear down on the already exhausted Italian economy, disappointing every expectation of a softening of these clauses.

It is therefore proposed that the above two subjects should be lifted from the Peace Treaty in order that they may continue to be treated through the channels already opened for them, through which there is every expectation that an equitable and reasonable solution may be reached.