Editorial Note
During the course of their meetings in Washington the Foreign Ministers of the United States, United Kingdom, and France agreed on the following communication to the Parliamentary Council:
“The Foreign Secretaries of the US, UK and France, who during their current meetings in Washington are studying the problems of Western Germany, are gratified to learn that the competent committees of the Parliamentary Council are pressing forward with the work of completing the draft of the Basic Law. The Foreign Secretaries understand that decisions will be taken in Bonn during the next few days [Page 237] on several important issues connected with the basic law. They trust that the Parliamentary Council and the responsible German party leaders will give due consideration to the recommendations of the Military Governors, which conform with the provisions of the London Agreement authorizing the establishment of a German Democratic Federal Government. The Foreign Secretaries desire that the decisions of the Parliamentary Council will be taken in a spirit of facilitating a mutually cooperative attitude between the future German federal authorities and the occupying powers, which is one of the important objectives being sought in the current talks in Washington regarding Germany.”
This message was delivered to the Parliamentary Council on April 5 by the liaison officers of the occupying powers. For further documentation relating to the consideration of the Basic Law by the Foreign Ministers, April 6–8, see pages 156 ff. On April 10, the Allied liaison officers delivered to the Parliamentary Council the text of the Occupation Statute, p. 179.