740.0011EW (Peace)/9–2149
The Acting Director of the Office of German and Austrian Affairs (Murphy) to the United States Deputy for Austria at the Council of Foreign Ministers (Reber)1
My Dear Mr. Reber: The following instructions will serve as a basis for the conference on the Austrian Treaty to convene in New York on September 23.
The basic discussion on the remaining unagreed issues in the Austrian Treaty should be based on the tripartite agreement of September [Page 1158] 15, 1949,2 a copy of which is attached. The U.S. Delegation will attempt to conclude the Austrian Treaty on the broad lines laid down in this tripartite agreement and in such specific terms as will enable Austria to exist as an independent state.
In addition it will be necessary that an effort be made by the U.S. Delegation, together with the British and French Delegations, to include in paragraph 6 of Article 35 an appropriate guarantee that industrial equipment held or claimed by the Soviets as war booty or as German assets will be transferred to the Austrians together with the industrial plants relinquished by the Soviets under the terms of the lump sum settlement. The present language of the Soviet draft does not cover this problem and if Article 35 bis is agreed the U.S. Delegation must insist upon the inclusion of appropriate provisions in Article 35.
In the tripartite meeting of September 15 the three Ministers agreed to look into the problem of paragraph 10 of the Soviet proposal on Article 35 regarding arbitration procedure. Appropriate instructions will be transmitted concerning the appointment of the third arbitrator after further discussion of this point with the British and French Ministers.
In approaching the problem of final acceptance of the Austrian Treaty the U.S. Delegation must bear in mind a problem which other Delegations do not face. In order to submit the draft Austrian Treaty to public discussion in the United States and to acceptance under constitutional procedures by the Senate, it will be necessary to have sufficient evidence that the U.S. Delegation has obtained the best justifiable bargain on the key issues and has exhausted all negotiating procedures in obtaining terms which not only will safeguard Austrian interests in the future but will also serve the U.S. national interest by terminating military occupation, and will protect U.S. private interests in Austria. The U.S. Delegation, therefore, is instructed during the course of the negotiations to formulate on each of the remaining issues a justification for any terms which may be accepted within the framework of the tripartite agreement.
Sincerely yours,