740.00119 Council/12–347: Telegram

The United States Delegation at the Council of Foreign Ministers to President Truman, the Acting Secretary of State, and Others

confidential
urgent

6306. Delsec 1517. For the President, Vandenberg, Connally, Eaton, Bloom and Lovett. Eighth CFM meeting, December 3, Bidault presiding, again discussed the composition of the conference which is to discuss the draft German Peace Treaty. After an exchange of views by the Ministers on the list of states eligible to take part in the conference, the Council then referred the entire question of the peace making procedure to the Deputies in the hope that agreement would be reached on additional points.4

Molotov proposed that the governments represented on the CFM present to the Council within two months their views on the basis of a German treaty. Bidault interpreted the Soviet proposal to mean the termination of this session of the CFM since the remainder of the Council’s agenda consisted of questions which are basic to the German treaty. Molotov said Bidault’s interpretation was incorrect but in view of the lack of support of his proposal by the other Ministers, he withdrew it.

The Council then received the report of the Deputies for Austria on the draft treaty re-establishing an independent and democratic Austria.5 The Deputies reported that a French proposal aimed at ending disagreement over the disposition of German assets in Austria had been discussed and accepted as basis for further discussion by the US, UK and France but rejected by the Soviet Deputy. The Ministers postponed until tomorrow a discussion of this report.

Repeated to Moscow as 347, Paris as 631, Berlin as 513, Vienna as 129, Rome as 160.

  1. The Provisional Record of Decisions of this meeting records the Council’s decision as follows:

    “After an exchange of the views between Delegations the Council agreed to refer to the Deputies for Germany the question of the composition of the Peace Conference, its committees and sub-committees and of the composition of the Information and Consultation Conference and the remaining points still unagreed in document CFM(D) (L) (47) (G)78 Revised.” (CFM Files: Box 87: Provisional Records of Decisions)

  2. Document CFM(47) (L)15, December 2, 1947, p. 798.