Office of the Historian

CFM Files

United States Delegation Journal

Paris, August 17, 1946, 4 p.m.

USDel (PC) (Journal) 18

The Commission unanimously elected M. Kisselev (Byelorussia) as Chairman and Mr. Jordan (New Zealand) as Vice Chairman. M. Novikov (U.S.S.R.) made a statement to the effect that the Soviet [Page 251] Delegation thought it necessary to clarify the situation concerning the composition of the commission in order to avoid later misunderstanding. The Soviet Delegation believed that the membership of the commission should be restricted to those states which had been at war with Bulgaria and which were named in the preamble of the draft treaty. The reasons for this position had been stated on a previous date by Mr. Vyshinsky in the Political and Territorial Commission for Rumania.19 The Soviet Delegation had no objection to the participation of France in the discussions of the commission on the same basis as in the Council of Foreign Ministers. M. Couve de Murville (France) stated his view that the composition of the commission was fixed not by the documents mentioned by the Soviet Delegation, but by Section I, paragraph 3, subparagraphs a and b, of the Rules of Organization and Procedure of the Conference. If there was any doubt concerning the interpretation of those rules, the doubt should be resolved by the Plenary Council or the commission on procedure. Mr. Jebb (U.K.) associated himself with the statement of the French Delegation. Mr. Cohen (U.S.) wished it noted that the U.S. maintained the position it had stated in the Political Commission for Rumania and the Economic Commission for the Balkans. The Chairman said that he would have the declarations which had been made annexed to the official record of the meeting.20

  1. The meeting under reference is the 1st Meeting of the Political and Territorial Commission for Rumania, August 16; for the United States Delegation Journal account of that meeting, see p. 244.↩
  2. Substantially the same declarations were made at the 1st Meeting of the Political and Territorial Commission for Rumania, August 16; for texts, see extract from the Record of Decisions of that meeting, p. 245.↩