740.00119 Council/3–1748: Telegram
The United States Deputy for Austria at the Council of Foreign Ministers (Reber) to the Secretary of State
us urgent
niact
1086. Delsec 1638. From Reber. At tripartite meeting western deputies last night it was agreed that after restating our positions at tomorrow’s meeting, from which no deviation will be made in the absence of concrete evidence of Soviet willingness to negotiate, a concerted effort should be made to force Soviet representative to set forth what concessions, if any, his Government is prepared to make at this time. French deputy will take the lead in describing extent of alterations he is willing to make in his proposal as follows: 53% of oil extraction, 42% of oil exploration rights, 420,000 tons refining capacity, utilization of port facilities in Vienna in addition to DDSG assets in satellite states, 15 million dollars of Austrian assets in satellites in addition to 100 million dollars lump sum payable in two cash installments of 25 million dollars and five installments of 10 million dollars payable in goods, installments to start one year after ratification. British and US will restate position as outlined most recent meetings and give sympathetic reception to new French initiative. If Soviet [representative] unwilling to make positive contribution adjournment of the discussions of Article 35 until he had time to receive further instructions from Moscow will be proposed and intervening period can then be devoted to brief consideration of the remaining un-agreed treaty issues. If after resumption of discussions of Article 35, probably early next week, no change in the Soviet position is indicated we will have at that time to state that the Soviet attitude demonstrates no agreement is possible except on their terms and to consider terminating these negotiations, since it seems unlikely that Koktomov will be prepared to make more than a token advance.
I assume that US position described in report of our Delegation Austrian Treaty Commission dated October 14, 1947,1 should govern this Delegation in its discussions of the other articles. With respect to Article Two guaranteeing Austrian independence, the French Delegation is now of the opinion that a quadripartite guarantee of this nature is meaningless, since quadripartite consultation is required and the Soviets would be in a position to block effective action. I agree and [Page 1479] suggest we should be prepared to drop our insistence upon this article in return for agreement to eliminate the requirement national manufacture of Austrian armaments. I should also appreciate being informed whether the establishment of the IRO machinery makes any change necessary in respect to Article 16, or whether the article is still considered essential in a treaty.
Sent Department 1086, repeated Vienna 32, Vienna pass to USFA.
- Not printed; this report may be found in State Department file 740.0011 EW(Peace)/10–147 and in the CFM files, Lot M–88, Box 64.↩