750G.00/9–154: Telegram
No. 251
The Chargé in the United Kingdom
(Butterworth) to the Department of State1
1093. Eyes only Secretary. Limit distribution. From Thompson. Harrison and I presented Yugoslav position to Brosio this morning. We stated that his suggestion had already in effect been presented to Yugos by General Smith2 and we had subsequently discussed it with Velebit, not of course revealing Brosio’s initiative (we were obliged handle matter this way as I had earlier told Brosio we had not taken the matter up with Velebit).
Brosio expressed himself calmly but forcefully and said he not only could not accept what he considered a Yugoslav ultimatum but he also could not recommend acceptance to his government. It was now a matter for his government to decide but he assumed we knew that the Foreign Minister was strongly opposed to acceptance and he implied that without his support his government would certainly reject the proposal. We urged that his government give the matter a most serious consideration and said that as negotiators we could only tell him that in our opinion the Yugoslav position could not be changed. I also pointed out that the Yugo position was that unless their position on territory, cultural houses, and reparations was met they would withdraw their agreement to other elements of the proposal such as the consulate at Capodistria. In the discussion, Brosio made clear that if Italy broke negotiations they would do so on the agreement as a whole and not just on the territorial settlement.
On balance, I believe there would be some advantage for the Acting Secretary to urge acceptance through Tarchiani before Italian Government has reached a decision.