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

740.00119 Council/12–1547: Telegram

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

confidential
urgent

London, December 15, 1947—8 p.m.

6479. Delsec 1548. For the President, Vandenberg, Connally, Eaton, Bloom, and Lovett. Seventeenth and final CFM meeting, December 15, Bevin presiding.

Molotov asked the Council to hear representatives of the German People’s Congress as spokesmen for the German people.⁶⁷ Marshall, Bidault, and Bevin opposed this suggestion on the ground that the Congress is not representative of political opinion in Germany.

Marshall said the US delegation came to this session of the Council hopeful (1) of reaching a general settlement to end the division of Germany, and (2) of obtaining a treaty reestablishing the independence of Austria. He added that Molotov’s statement of Friday on reparations was not acceptable to the US delegation.⁶⁸

Bidault denied Molotov’s charge that the western powers had proposed the termination of all reparation payments by Germany to the Soviet Union. He proposed that experts study whether and how much reparations from current production could be paid by Germany. Molotov renewed his proposal for reparations from current German production and the fixing of the amount of reparations to be paid by Germany to the USSR at ten billion dollars.

Bevin said Molotov was insisting on an agreement on reparations as a condition to any general settlement on Germany and Austria. He summarized the issues on which Molotov is blocking agreement, adding that all the Council is getting from Molotov is accusations. He said the UK had never agreed to the payment to the USSR of reparations from the current German production of the western zones. He said he could only conclude that Molotov’s attacks are intended to make as difficult as possible relations between the members of the Council. He outlined the kind of a German settlement the UK wants, adding that if agreement were impossible, it would be a great disappointment to him because he was here to make peace, not propaganda. He said the experiences at the Council session had led him to wonder whether the CFM is a body which can ever reach a settlement of the German and the European problem.

Marshall reviewed the present status of the Council’s work (see Delsec 1549 for text⁶⁹), including Soviet blocking of an agreement on an Austrian treaty, and the Soviet position making agreement on basic German questions possible only on terms which would enslave the German people and retard European recovery. He suggested that the Council adjourn without discussing the remaining items on its agenda since no real progress could be made because of Soviet’s obstructionism.

Molotov denied any responsibility for the impasse and repeated earlier charges against the western powers. He accused Marshall of asking for adjournment of the Council in order to give the US a free hand to do as it pleased in its zone of Germany.

Bidault said the Council had met for three weeks and accomplished practically nothing. He said it should adjourn rather than further aggravate relations between the Four Powers.

The Council agreed to refer the Austrian treaty to the deputies for Austria to examine any new proposals for a settlement.⁷⁰

Molotov said he had no objection and the Council adjourned without fixing the date of its next session. Both Marshall and Bevin expressed the hope that the next session would be held in a better atmosphere.

Repeated to Moscow, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Rome.

67. Regarding the so-called “German Peoples Congress” held in Berlin, December 6 and 7, see telegrams 3679, December 6 and 3721, December 12, from Berlin, pp. 901 and 903.
68. For the text of Secretary Marshall’s statement summarized here, see Germany 1947–1949, p. 193 or Department of State Bulletin, December 28, 1947, p. 1247.
69. Telegram 6485, Delsec 1549, December 15, from London, under reference here, is not printed. For the text of Secretary Marshall’s statement, see Germany 1947–1949, pp. 193–195 or Department of State Bulletin, December 28, 1947, pp. 1247–1249.
70. In accordance with this decision by the Council of Foreign Ministers, the Deputies for Austria met on December 17, 1947, to resume their discussion of the unagreed items of the draft Austrian treaty. No progress was made. According to telegram 6540, Delsec 1552, December 18, from London, not printed, reporting on the meeting, the Deputies agreed to meet next in London no later than February 1, 1948, the exact date to be determined by the chairman at that meeting (the United States Deputy) within five days following receipt by him from the international secretariat of the Council of Foreign Ministers of a new Soviet proposal on aspects of the German assets problem in Austria (740.00119 Council/12–1847).