Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, The British Commonwealth; Europe, Volume III

851.51/5–2347: Airgram

The Secretary of State to the Embassy in France

confidential

Washington, May 23, 1947.

A–809. Recent negotiations in Washington between representatives of the Governments of the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada have resulted in a final agreement on the financial settlement of the combined civilian supply program (Plan A).¹

As a result of this settlement, the Governments of the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada have presented memoranda to the Government of France, as well as other recipient governments, on May 15, 1947,² setting forth the respective shares of the three supplying governments in the combined bills for supplies furnished under Plan A. In the case of France, and other northwest European governments, these shares have been determined to be as follows:

To the Government of the United States	62%
To the Government of the United Kingdom	33%
To the Government of Canada	5%

The memorandum from the United States Government to the Government of France states further that it will no longer be necessary for the French Government to maintain a reserve fund of 10% of the combined claim, which was stipulated as a condition of the waiver of the United States share of France’s Plan A obligation at the time of the over-all settlement of war accounts between the United States and France in May, 1946.

The United States memorandum was presented to the French Embassy in Washington. It is the Department’s understanding that the British memorandum was presented to the French Foreign Office by the British Embassy in Paris, and the Canadian memorandum was presented to the French Embassy in Ottawa.

Marshall

1. Plan A related to the provision of civilian relief supplies for liberated areas by the combined Allied military authorities in Western Europe and the Mediterranean under financial arrangements agreed to by the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. For documentation, see Foreign Relations, 1945, vol. ii, pp. 1059 ff., and 1946, vol. v , index entries under “Plan A”. Additional documentation on the settlement, not printed, is in Department of State file No. 841.24 for 1947.
2. Not printed.