Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, Council of Foreign Ministers; Germany and Austria, Volume II

CFM Files: Lot M–88: Box 2161: CFM(D) (47) (G) Documents

Report by the Committee of Experts to the Deputies for Germany of the Council of Foreign Ministers ⁶⁰

secret
CFM(D) (47) (G) 65 Revised

London, 21st February, 1947.

Procedure With Regard to the Preparation of a Peace Treaty [With] Germany

Note: The references in the margin indicate the countries which are in agreement with the words in brackets.

france u.s.a.	1. The Peace Treaty [for] Germany will be prepared by the Council of Foreign Ministers composed for this purpose of the members of the Council representing the Powers signatory to the Act of Military Surrender of Germany.
	The Council of Foreign Ministers will consult the Governments of the Allied States enumerated in paragraph 2 on the question of the preparation of the peace treaty in the manner laid down in Part II of this document.
	2. The Allied States mentioned in the foregoing paragraph are the Allied States which are neighbours of Germany and other Allied States which participated with their armed forces in the common struggle against Germany, namely:
u.s.s.r. france	[Albania], Australia, Belgium, the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Brazil, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Greece, India, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, the Union of South Africa and Yugoslavia.
u.k. france u.k. france u.s.s.r.	3. When the preparation of the draft peace treaty is completed [or sufficiently advanced] [due regard having been given to the views expressed by the Allied States] [and when a central Government is formed in Germany which will be deemed adequate for the purpose of accepting the said document] the Council of Foreign Ministers, consisting of the Foreign Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France
u.k. france	[and China] will convene a conference to discuss the draft treaty.
u.s.s.r. france	The conference will consist of the following States which are neighbours of Germany and other Allied States which participated with their armed forces in the common struggle against Germany: the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, China, [Albania], Australia, Belgium, the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Brazil, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Greece, India, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, the Union of South Africa and Yugoslavia.
u.s.s.r.	[The German Government will be given an opportunity of stating its views at the conference]
u.k.	[If at the time of the conference there exists a German Government adequate for the purpose of accepting a peace treaty, representatives of the German Government will be given an opportunity of expressing their views at this conference.
	In any event, before a peace treaty is signed by a German Government, representatives of that Government will be given an opportunity of expressing their views on the draft peace treaty.]
	4. When the work of the conference is concluded, and its recommendations have been considered, the Council of Foreign Ministers, consisting of representatives of the States which signed the Act of Military Surrender of Germany will draw up the final text of the peace treaty.
u.k. france	[In this work the Council of Foreign Ministers will consult the Allied States in the manner laid down in Part II of this document.]
	5. The final text of the peace treaty thus prepared will be signed by the Representatives of the States represented at the conference.
	The text of the peace treaty will thereafter be presented to the other United Nations who are in a state of war with Germany.
	6. The peace treaty will enter into force immediately after its ratification by the Allied States which signed the Act of Military Surrender of Germany.
	With respect to each other Allied signatory the Treaty will come into force upon the date of the ratification by that Allied signatory.
	The peace treaty is also subject to ratification by Germany.
	The U.S. Delegation reserves its position on paragraphs 3 to 6 inclusive and abstains from discussion on the ground that it is premature at the present time to attempt to decide on procedure for this period.

60. At their 27th Meeting, February 21, 1947, the Deputies for Germany agreed to appoint a Committee of Experts (U.S.–Trivers, U.K.–Young, U.S.S.R.–Filipov, France–de Courcel) to prepare a text showing the positions of the respective Delegations in regard to the proposals contained in Part I of the Soviet proposal (CFM(D) (47) (G)56, February 12, 1947, p. 30) and to report to the Deputies at their next meeting. At their 28th Meeting, February 22, 1947, the Deputies for Germany considered the text submitted by the Committee of Experts in document CFM(D) (47) (G)65 and approved it in the amended form printed here. According to the Record of Decisions of the 28th Meeting of the Deputies, the United States and United Kingdom Delegations made the reservation that their acceptance of CFM(D) (47) (G) 65 Revised was subject to agreement being reached on a complete document.