SOME PROGRESS MADE

Chronicle (Levin), 19 June 1946, Page 5

SOME PROGRESS MADE

framing of italian treaty foreign ministers' talks Reeeived Tuesday 7.5 p.m. LOXLOX, June 17. The Foreign Minislers tonight got into their stride in a second attempt to find a way out of the deadloek which tkreatens to divide Kurope into two eamps, sa_ys Reuter's Paris eorrespondent. Alr. Byrnes (United States) opened the proceedings hy ealling for a diseussion on the economic clauses of tlie Italian Peace Treaty, including the voxed question of reparations. The Italian delegation in Paris presented the Foreign Alinisters with a new mem-" orandum on the Krench-Italian frontier question, suggesting a eornpromise on the Krench elaiin for the mountain and plateau of Alont Cenis, 40 miles northwest of Turin. The Italian proposal would leave the territory under Italian soveroignty, but would give the French a large jiart of the hvdro-electric power produced there during the summer months. Tlie Italians would get the bulk of tlie power during the winter. The memorandnm has not yet been considered by the Foreign Alinisters., The Italian delegation, mean while, was endeavouring to settle all tlie KrenchItalian border problems by direct talks with the Krench. The Big Four agreed in principle on four of the seven points in ' the economic section of the Ita.ian Treaty, leaving considsration of the remaiinng three until tomorrow. The points on which they agreed were: — (1) Compensation for war damage to United Nations property in Italy. (2) Italian property in United NatiGns territory. (3) Renunciation by Italy of her claims against United Nations. (4) The general economic clansesj dealing with trade. They postponed reparations, rostitu- ! tion of United Nations property and Italian property in ceded territories. Mr. Byrnes announced that the • United 8tat.es was ready "to help ; Italy" and to rcnounee all claims against Italy, iiioludiiig reparations. j Alr. Bevin and Al. Jiidault opjmsed the proposal, and Alr. Alolotov declined to commit Russia one way oi* the olher. M. Bidault. said that France eslirnateil that property claims against Italy. arising from the war were about , £.1 .1,000,000. i Alessi's Byrnes and Bevin said they had not been able to arrive at the final total of their claims. Alr. Byrnes, however, said that tlie provisional American iigure was £27,500,000, thougli it was q,uite«» possible tliat when all the claims had been investigated, the total might be only one-twentieth of that amount. s .. Mr.. Alolotov said it was impossible to diseuss the claims against Italv before answering the question wliether Italy was eapable of paying. Ile rerainded the Alinisters that it ivas stated last month that Italy was too poor to pay the whole of the Russian claim, for which reason, he said, the Russian reparations claim had been scaled down to one-twentieth of the damage done. He thought the Ministers should accept ihe principle of partial compensation and leave the exjierts to decide what proportion of the claims should be i settled. • Mr. Byrnes at this stage made a. pro- : posal to waive all claims against Italy. i M. Bidault said that, if Ari*. Byrnes 'j proposal were accepted, it wouhl mean ; that France, which sulfered from Fascist aggression, would also have to renounce her compensation. Alr. Bevin supported AL Bidault and said that Britain must insist on compensation to British eitizens for damage to property in Italy. The Ministers then agreed to establish a speeial commission, including the Italian representatives, to deal with all claims for compensation against Italy. Mr. Alolotov, in discussing tlie fate of Italian property in United Nations hands, proposed that not more than onethird of Italian property abroad sliould be made the subject of United Nations claims. Mr. Bevin objected and sairl that rtalian property in Britain nmounted to £5,000,000 in cash and £6,000,000 in property. Italy owed Britain trade debts totalling about tlie same amount. The acceptance of Mr. Alolotov 's proposal would mean 'giving Italy twothirds of her property "as a premium for warring against us. " The Ministers finally agreed that Italian property should. pe retained by each of the 'United Nations and the detaGs should be decided by experts. The Big Four quickly agreed on a clause dealing with the Italian claims against the Allied Nations, such as the Italian financial losses when America froze Italian assets before entering the war. Italy in principle will waive all claims against Allied nationals. The Ministers also accepted unani-mpu-sly a' clause ciealing with future

trade relations with Italy, including a provision that Italy grant most-f avour- ; ed nation treatment to the exports vand ; imports of United Nations. • i "The prospeets seem good, " says tlie. Paris correspdndent of the Times, ' ' but j i it is the last inch that counts. It must i ; be remembered that many of these eco- ! i nomic clauses. cannot be finally drafted | withiout refeience to the wider disagreo- | ment arnong the Ministers on how Italy | ! should be treated. Similarly any dis-1 cussion on wrhat should be done with ; Italian property, for example, in the j Julian Mareh, tends to be highly ab- ' | straet and indecisive in the absence of! a political decision on tlie future of the j | territory. j "However, there are already a good . many clauses in the Italian treaty onj j which the Ministers have agreed. There ! is coriYplete aecord on the size of the j armed forces the Italians shall lceep. If the treaty goes through, Italy' will be restricted to fewer than 300,000 troops, all told, biit will also have a navy and air .force of more than 20,000 men apiece, including all the men needed on land for servicing and maintenance. Italy will not be allowed any powerful aggressive' weapons. .Tanks, which-w.ill-i not be the latest type, will liumber i about 200, and aeroplanes 350. The ! navy will be small, but well balanced, with a large number of torpedo-boats, corvettes and auxiliary vessels to compensate for the severely restricted number of battleships aiid cruisers. ! "Agreement has aHo been reaelied on demilitaj-isation of tlie Frenchi Italian . and ' Italian- Yugoslav frontiers 1 and the Sicilian and Sardinian coastal regions." .