840.50 Recovery/9–1247: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Douglas) to the Secretary of State
urgent
niact
4951. For the Secretary. 1. Spent Wednesday afternoon and Thursday in Paris with Clayton and Caffery (Deptel 3950, September 11). Two meetings with the Executive Committee of the CEEC were held; the first on Wednesday afternoon, the second on Thursday afternoon. Also two meetings with Sir Oliver Franks and Sir Edmund Hall-Patch, the first prior to the Executive Committee meeting on Wednesday and the second prior to the Executive Committee meeting on Thursday.
2. You should have by now received full cables from Paris reciting the results of these meetings. Nevertheless, the following is a brief résumé of the results of the final meeting with the Executive Committee:
- a.
- Six fundamental considerations inadequately dealt with, or omitted entirely, in the tentative draft report, which we received in Paris, were discussed and emphasized. (These six basic points you should have received from Paris by the time they arrive).1
- b.
- Since there was not sufficient time to recast the report along the lines indicated, the members of the Executive Committee agreed, subject to the approval of their governments that the meeting of the [Page 430] Ministers on the 15th to receive the report would be postponed until the 22nd.
- c.
- The report when submitted on the 22nd to the Ministers will be labeled “provisional” or alternatively “a first report”.
- d.
- After the report has been submitted to the Ministers on the 22nd, the conference will, subject to the approval of their governments, recess and not terminate. Sir Oliver Franks will be given the authority, after the report has been more carefully analyzed by the US, to reconvene the conference for such further work as may be necessary.
3. Bevin indicated this morning when I saw him this procedure was entirely satisfactory to him.
As to the inclusion of bizonal areas—after discussion with Clayton, we concluded that in the light of the difficulties that we had had in persuading the Executive Committee to follow the procedure outlined above, it would only at that time have confused the major issue to bring up the inclusion of bizonal area. Moreover, we felt that it would be more appropriate to ask for the inclusion of the bizonal areas when the conference is reconvened after the submission of the “provisional” or “first report” and press for inclusion during the remaining 8 days of the present phase of the work of the conference.