Editorial Note
In response to a proposal by the Soviet Union on November 3, 1950, calling for a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers to discuss the demilitarization of Germany, the Governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union agreed to hold exploratory talks in Paris in order to determine an agenda for a possible Foreign Ministers meeting which would follow. These Four-Power Exploratory Talks, held at the Palais Rose, began on March 5 and continued until June 21 with a total of 74 meetings. No agreement was reached on an agenda, but the question of the Austrian Treaty was briefly discussed on several occasions as is noted in the following documentation. For documentation on the Four-Power Exploratory Talks, see volume III, Part 1, pages 1086 ff.