740.00119 Council/4–2848: Telegram
The United States Deputy for Austria at the Council of Foreign Ministers (Reber) to the Secretary of State
1803. Delsec 1697. For the Undersecretary and Hickerson from Reber. At the request of the French a tripartite meeting was held late yesterday to discuss whether any guarantee might be offered Austria on a tripartite basis to minimize the dangers of concluding a treaty and to take the place of the second paragraph of Article 2 which three of us had agreed was no longer desirable and was in fact dangerous. There was complete unanimity upon the importance of maintaining the first paragraph of this article.
At present, the British are studying the possibility of a three-power agreement along the lines of the old second paragraph which would provide a guarantee for existing frontiers and consultation in the [Page 1501] event of a threat to Austria’s independence or territorial integrity. This would, of course, take the form of a separate protocol. The French feel some assurance should be given Austria that in the event of external aggression or threat thereof it might receive some form of western support. They have, however, no specific proposal to make in this connection at this time.
Speaking personally and making it clear that I was without instructions in this matter, I said that the question of frontier guarantees raised certain difficulties for the US and would seem to involve security questions which go far beyond the application of this principle to Austria alone. For that reason I felt reluctant to consider this type of guarantee in this connection. Whether or not it would be appropriate for the United States to make a declaration similar to the President’s statement with respect to Italy at the time of withdrawal of allied troops, which might give an assurance of the sort that the French were seeking was, however, a matter upon which I said I would gladly seek instructions.
I should appreciate any comments or instructions Department may care to give me in this connection, since the matter will undoubtedly be discussed again.