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

860S.51/2–1347

The British Embassy to the Department of State ²⁷

Memorandum

Ref: 11/32/47

Acting on a decision of the Council of Foreign Ministers taken on the 11th December, 1946, a Four Power Financial Commission is at present setting in Trieste to study the financial situation of the Free Territory during the initial period and to make recommendations on this subject.²⁸ The Commission has to submit this report by the 20th February and it is estimated that several months will be required to put the recommendations of the report into effect. Unless, therefore, the Council of Foreign Ministers adopt the report at an early stage, the Free Territory may come into being without any arrangements having been made for its economic organisation.

2. His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom wish to enquire whether the United States Government will agree to the inclusion of the report of the Four Power Commission in the agenda of the Moscow Conference. They also wish to know whether the United States Government would prefer that the report should be considered at the opening or towards the end of the Conference. His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom think that the Four Power Commission will by no means have reached unanimous conclusions and that there will be major decisions of substance to be made on the report. They are therefore in favour of having it placed early in the agenda so that the Foreign Ministers themselves can make the necessary broad decisions and then leave the representative of the Four Power Financial Commission, who will be present in Moscow, to work out the details while the meeting is dealing with the rest of the agenda. The report can then be adopted in its final form at any later stage in the meeting which is convenient.

3. His Majesty’s Government would be grateful for a very early expression of the United States Government’s views on the foregoing. A similar communication is being addressed to the Soviet and French Governments.

Washington, 13th February, 1947.

27. A marginal handwritten note on the source text reads as follows: “File. Affirmative reply given orally Feb 14. WD [Walter Dowling?] SE”.
28. For the Council decision under reference, see Foreign Relations, 1946, vol. ii, p. 1517. The Trieste Commission of Inquiry, as it was officially designated, held its first meeting on January 14, 1947, in the headquarters of the Allied Military Government, Trieste. The Commission members were: United States–Harold Glasser; United Kingdom–A. P. Grafftey Smith; Soviet Union–Vladimir Sergeyevich Gerashchenko; France–Christian de Lavarene. During January and February 1947, the Commission interviewed principal officers of the Allied Military Government and representatives of local business, labor and political groups. Yugoslavia and Italy sent missions to Trieste for consultation with the Commission, and the Commission, at the invitation of the Governments concerned, visited Rome and Belgrade. The conclusions and recommendations of the Commission were set forth in a 51-page Report, dated February 27, 1947, designated document CFM (47) TCI–151. This Report was subsequently circulated to the Council of Foreign Ministers as document CFM (47) (M) 2, March 10, 1947. Acting on behalf of the Council of Foreign Ministers, Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Vyshinsky sent copies of the Commission’s Report to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on September 7, 1947; see Vyshinsky’s letter, Department of State Bulletin, October 26, 1947, p. 824. A preliminary summary of the contents of the Commission’s Report was sent to the Department of State in telegram 24, February 20, 1947, from Caserta, p. 171.