Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, Council of Foreign Ministers; Germany and Austria, Volume II

CFM Files: Lot M–88: Box 2161: CFM(D) (47) (G) Documents

Proposal by the French Delegation to the Deputies for Germany of the Council of Foreign Ministers ⁵⁹

secret
CFM(D) (47) (G)68

London, 21st February, 1947.

Questions Relating to Germany: Procedure

1) For the study of questions relating to the settlement with Germany, the Council of Foreign Ministers will appoint four permanent Committees:

a) Committee on the political and constitutional structure of Germany.

b) Committee on territorial adjustments and related problems.

c) Committee on the economic organization of Germany and Reparation.

d) Committee on disarmament and demilitarization.

The permanent Committees will consist of representatives of the Four Powers members of the Council. They will submit reports and recommendations to the Ministers or to the Deputies.

Each of the four Committees will appoint sub-committees, as and when necessary, to examine particular questions; the sub-committees will continue to operate as long as is necessary to carry out the work entrusted to them. They will report to the permanent Committees and submit their recommendations, and eventually the various points of view whenever no unanimous agreement is reached.

The membership of these sub-committees will be determined in each case by the permanent Committees who will invite the Allied States directly concerned in the problems under consideration to be represented thereon.

2) The Council of Foreign Ministers will appoint a committee for the information and consultation of the Allied Governments. The duties of this committee will be the following:

1. To keep the Allied Governments regularly informed on the work of the Council of Foreign Ministers in connection with the preparation of the Peace Treaty.

2. To communicate to the Allied Governments all the documentation of the Council of Foreign Ministers concerning the preparation of the Treaty (particularly the decisions, directives, reports of committees and sub-committees, etc.…) which may be of use for their information.

3. To communicate to the Allied Governments, with the agreement of each Government concerned, the memoranda, statements and other documents submitted to the Council of Foreign Ministers.

4. To organize consultation of the representatives of the Allied Governments:

(a) on the questions set forth in the memoranda and oral statements of the Allied Governments relating to the German problem;

(b) on information and documents communicated to the Allied Governments under paragraphs 1 and 2 above;

(c) on general questions relating to the German problem.

The Information and Consultation Committee will consist of representatives of the Four Powers members of the Council and of the Allied States which are neighbours of Germany or which participated with their armed forces in the common struggle against Germany. The chairmanship of the Committee will be held in turn by the representatives of the Four Powers. They will act in concert in the Committee according to the instructions they will receive from the Ministers or the Deputies.

The Foreign Ministers will be kept informed of the proceedings of the Information and Consultation Committee by their representatives on this Committee.

59. This proposal was tabled by the French Delegation at the 27th Meeting of the Deputies for Germany, February 21, 1947, but it was subsequently withdrawn. The explanation of the reasons for the submission and withdrawal of this proposal by the French Delegation was set forth in note 1 to the Report by the Deputies for Germany to the Council of Foreign Ministers, CFM(D) (47) (G)69 (Revised), February 26, 1947, p. 105.