CFM Files
Report of the Military Commission on the Military, Naval, and Air Clauses of the Draft Peace Treaty With Rumania
1. Introductory
The Commission held three Meetings on the Draft Peace Treaty with Roumania. It submits to the Plenary Conference recommendations concerning Articles 11 to 20 and Annexes 2 and 3 of the Treaty. The Commission considered proposals for amendments put forward [Page 477] by the Delegations of Belgium and Poland. These proposals are designated by the following letters and numbers: Belgium C2 and Poland O6.
It heard the representatives of Roumania and considered their observations. An amendment was tabled by the Czechoslovak Delegation on the basis of these observations but was subsequently withdrawn in view of the explanation given by the U.S. Delegate on behalf of the Four Powers that necessary reserves of war material are not prohibited by the corresponding Articles in the Peace Treaty.
All the Articles of the Draft Treaty which the Commission examined had been approved by the Council of Foreign Ministers. The United States Delegation had made a reservation with respect to an Article covering War Graves; but it withdrew the reservation.
2. Decision on the Articles
(a) Articles adopted without change:
- Articles 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20.
- Annexes 2 and 3.
(b) Drafting amendment adopted. The French version of Article 15 was redrafted in order to bring the last sentence into line with the English and Russian text. As revised the Article in French reads as follows:
“La Roumanie ne devra pas conserver, fabriquer ou acquérir par d’autres moyens, de matériel de guerre en excédent de ce qui est nécessaire au maintien des forces armées autorisées par l’Article 11 du présent Traité; elle ne conservera pas d’installations en excédent de celles nécessaires à l’armement des forces armées autorisées par l’Article 11 du présent Traité.
(c) Amendment of substance adopted. Article 14. A Belgian amendment to add “any atomic weapon” to those excluded to Roumania was adopted; and Article 14 was redrafted in the form which had been approved for the corresponding part of the text of Article 44 in the Draft Peace Treaty with Italy. The Article as amended runs as follows:
“Roumania shall not possess, construct or experiment with any atomic weapon, any self propelled or guided missiles or apparatus connected with their discharge (other than torpedoes and torpedo launching gear inherent to naval vessels permitted by this Treaty), sea-mines or torpedoes of non-contact types actuated by influence mechanisms, torpedoes capable of being manned, submarines or other submersible craft or specialised types of assault craft,”
The following resolution was adopted unanimously:
“The Commission agrees that the Articles on prohibitions in the Balkan and Finnish Treaties (Article 12 of the Bulgarian Treaty, Article 14 of the Roumanian Treaty, Article 13 of the Hungarian [Page 478] Treaty, and Article 16 of the Finnish Treaty) should be in identical language, i.e. that decided upon for Article 12 of the Bulgarian Treaty.”
The representatives of Byelorussia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Ukraine, Yugoslavia and the U.S.S.R. state that in their opinion the Commission has not reached unanimous agreement on the inclusion of Motor Torpedo Boats in the Peace Treaties with Bulgaria, Roumania, Hungary and Finland; and that the unanimous decision reached on the 28th September, 1946, regarding the similarity of Article 12 and the corresponding Articles in the Peace Treaties with the Balkan States and Finland, refers to the decision already taken by the Military Commission (see amended text of Article 12 in the Commission’s Record of Decisions of the 27th September, 1946), and not to future decisions. The French and Russian texts of this resolution confirm this declaration.
3. Article in Respect of Which a Declaration Was Recorded—Article 16
The Polish Delegation withdrew an amendment about its claim to restitution of war material.
A declaration was made by the U.S. Delegate on behalf of the three Powers who prepared the Draft Peace Treaty with Roumania, that the excess war material of Roumanian and German origin surrendered by Roumania would be placed in its entirety at the disposal of the U.S.S.R., U.S.A. and U.K.; but in the disposition to be made of this material by joint decision of the Three Powers, the latter would take into consideration any request made by the other Allied and Associated Powers, in particular by the Powers from which material had been taken by Roumania.
Conclusion
The Commission at its 28th Meeting finally adopted as a whole all the military clauses of the Draft Treaty with Roumania including the two annexes, with the recommendations set forth above.
The Commission has the honour to propose to the Plenary Conference that it shall: Decide on the new text of the Military Clauses set out above: viz., Articles 14, 15 (French text).