662.6331/73: Telegram
The Ambassador in Belgium ( Gibson ) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 31—3:35 p.m.]
21. Reference to Embassy’s 19, March 28, 6 [5] p.m. The dilemma referred to in the above telegram could be over-emphasized. This was [Page 577] the view of a member of the German Legation with whom I had a conversation yesterday. He had just arrived from Berlin. I was told that this aspect of the problem had been carefully studied by the chief of the legal department of the German Foreign Office before the agreement was concluded. According to my informant, his Government was of the opinion that the proposed treaty sui generis was neither a true customs union of the Belgo-Luxemburg type, which under the Geneva Protocol would not be permitted because it would involve the sovereignty of Austria, nor economically incomplete thereby making it possible to invoke the most-favored-nation clause.
The official reiterated the recent statement of the retiring German Minister in Belgium. The latter, Alfred Horstmann, regarded the agreement as a measure designed to boost the morale of a people now at its lowest level as well as to facilitate economic reconstruction. In place of the ebbing Hitler Nationalist movement the agreement would stimulate the nation and subsequently bolster the Government in its fight against the extremist activities of the National Socialists.
Referring to paragraph 3, page 2 of my despatch No. 827, March 26,4 I gained the impression in talking with this official that his Government regards the proposed Austro-German customs union as a preliminary step toward an economic unit ultimately embracing Hungary, Rumania, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.
Repeated to Berlin and Paris.
- Not printed.↩