C.F.M. Files: Lot M–88: Box 2079: CFM Documents
The Yugoslav Minister for Foreign Affairs (Simić) to the Secretary General of the Council of Foreign Ministers69
Sir: On behalf of the Government of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia, I have the honour to submit to the Council of Foreign Ministers the request that Yugoslavia be invited to participate in the Work of the Council on questions relating to the preparation of Peace Treaties with Germany and Austria.
Yugoslavia is a neighbour of Austria and was the direct victim of German aggression. She took an active part in the war, fighting throughout a period of four years against the German Army, and against the Austrian troops which played a special part in the enslaving of the Balkans by Hitler /for instance, the Austrian Army of General Oberst von Rendulitsch was specially equipped for, and assigned to, fighting against the National Liberation Army and Partisan Units of Yugoslavia/.
[Page 1420]I
As regards Austria, Yugoslavia, being a neighbouring country, requests participation in the drafting of the territorial, political, military, economic and general clauses of the Treaty, for the following reasons:
- a/
- The territorial status is of immediate concern to Yugoslavia, among other reasons, because of her justified claims to parts of Carinthia /Koruska/, which are Yugoslav ethnical territory, and because of the fate of the Croats of Gradiska.
- b/
- Yugoslavia emphasizes her right to participate in the drafting of the political clauses, because her future relations of good neighbourhood with Austria, and her security depend on the establishing of the basis of these clauses. Yugoslavia must be ensured against Austria again becoming the base of an attack against her.
- c/
- It is obvious that Yugoslavia, as a neighbouring country, has an immediate interest in the drawing up of the military clauses relating to Austria, for it is from there that the German pressure and aggression against the peoples of Yugoslavia always originated, as was the case in this war also.
- d/
- The economic clauses of the Peace Treaty with Austria are also of immediate concern to Yugoslavia. A number of economic clauses have remained unimplemented, and a number of economic relations unsettled, from the First World War. Owing to German economic penetration into Yugoslavia before the war, and occupation in the course of the war, these relations have become even more intricate, because Austria served the purpose of the economic subjugation of Yugoslavia by Germany. These relations cannot be properly settled, and the foundation for normal friendly relations properly laid without Yugoslavia’s preliminary participation in the drafting.
- e/
- The general clauses are of immediate concern to Yugoslavia, because the question of the validity of the former treaty provisions, binding the so-called successor States of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, arises in this connection, as well as that of future relations between the Danubian countries.
For all these reasons, Yugoslavia considers that she is entitled to participate in the drafting of all the clauses of the future Peace Treaty with Austria.
II
As regards Germany, Yugoslavia’s interest is not merely based on the fact that she was a belligerent and is a European country, but she also has an immediate interest in the question.
- a/
- The political and territorial clauses which will determine the future status of Germany, are of vital concern to Yugoslavia, whose peoples have, in the course of centuries, been exposed to the German Drang nach Osten, and, during the last twenty-five years subjected to the most brutal German aggression. Yugoslavia is, also, concerned for the fate of the Lusacian Serbs.
- b/
- Yugoslavia has, for the same reasons, an immediate interest in the question of the military clauses of the Peace Treaty with Germany. She considers that she has the right to the same guarantees regarding her security as the countries adjacent to Germany.
- c/
- As regards the economic clauses, it is sufficient to point out that before the war Germany, by exerting constant pressure, occupied the first place in Yugoslavia’s balance of payment.
For these reasons the Yugoslav Government considers that they should be acknowledged the right to take part in the drafting of the above clauses, not merely as a European country, but as a country possessing a direct interest in the matter.
III
The Yugoslav Delegation hopes that this request will be acceded to. This all the more so as a participation in the preliminary work will, to a large extent, diminish the unnecessary difficulties and misunderstandings which might arise, if the countries concerned did not participate in the drafting. This is borne out by recent experiences regarding the drafting of peace treaties.
Please accept [etc.].
- This communication was circulated to the Council of Foreign Ministers as document CFM(46) (NY)47, December 4, 1946.↩