MINISTERS MYSTIFIED
SOVIET DELEGATE’S REQUEST BASIS OF GERMAN PEACE TREATY Rec. 11 p.m. LONDON, Dec. 4. Mr Molotov both startled and mystified the three Western Ministers at last night’s meeting of the Foreign Ministers’ Council by suddenly proposing that the German Peace Treaty should be based on the decisions of the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, and that four-Powers’ proposals on that basis should be submitted within
two months. It was the phrase “ within two months” which took the other Ministers aback, says The Times diplomatic correspondent, and M. Georges Bidault, who was chairman for the day, was not alone in thinking that Mr Molotov was suggesting that the council should.adjourn for two months. M. Bidault pointed out that they had a long programme of work ahead of them including vital discussions on the economic unify of Germany and its provisional political structure. Surely, he asked, such items were part and parcel of the preparation of a peace treaty. If not. why were they on the agenda? ' “If we are to be asked to state our views within two months in accord ■ ance with Mr Molotov’s proposal, it will mean a quick end to this session because our very purpose here is precisely the preparation of the' German Peace Treaty,” he said. Their presence in London; M. Bidault added, would become superfluous. Mr George Marshall said there was no lack of American interest in the Potsdam, and Yalta Agreements. It was a question of their interpretation. At many points the language of the Yalta and Potsdam Agreements meant one thing to the United States and another to Russia, but there was no purpose in repeating, the unfortunate differences that had arisen. “Let us get ahead and try to reconcile these differences now,” Mr Marshall added. Mr Molotov thereupon quietly remarked that as the other Ministers did not appear to support his proposal he would withdraw it.
Throughout the rest of the discussion many delegates, The Times correspondent says, were wondering what exactly. Mr Molotov had in mind. Some thought he had indeed sought an adjournment because he wished to see how the political struggle in France would bp resolved in the meantime and because he wished to see what kind of France he would have to deal with. The true explanation is probably simpler, namely, he wishes to suggest that he alone is anxious to press on with the German treaty and that he alone is working .on the assumption that there will be a peace treaty and a united Germany. The other Ministers certainly ,do not assume failure. On the contrary, The Times correspondent points out, they are realistically looking ahead to crucial debates which will show whether Germany can run as a single economic unit again and, therefore, whether the peace treaty can be elaborated, but they believe it to be pointless to work out precise plans until the essentials are agreed on.
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Otago Daily Times, Issue 26636, 5 December 1947, Page 5
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484MINISTERS MYSTIFIED Otago Daily Times, Issue 26636, 5 December 1947, Page 5
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