750G.00/10–154: Telegram
No. 288
The Chargé in Yugoslavia
(Wallner) to the Department
of State1
top
secret
Belgrade, October 1, 1954—5 p.m.
257. Following emerged from brief call on Bebler this morning.
- 1.
- He confirmed all points covered in London’s 1631.2
- 2.
- Having heard from Velebit that French association with declaration of non-support was not yet assured he had called in French Ambassador and formally requested him to inform his government that Yugoslav Government would welcome such association. I told Bebler that our plans were to approach French to that end tomorrow in London.
- 3.
- He confirmed rumors here that Tito would speak in Bosnia–Hercegovina on October 3 on anniversary liberation that republic but doubted that he would refer to Trieste any more than he had in his September 19 speech.
- 4.
- Although there will of course be editorial comment in Yugoslav press immediately following publication of agreement (i.e. in morning papers on October 6) official Yugoslav statements will be reserved for following day when Tito will present agreement to special session Federal Executive Council. Tito’s October 7 speech will be made public. Bebler did not elaborate on how Yugoslav Government intended to handle public presentation but it occurs to us Tito may have advantage of previous discussion in Italian Parliament and degree to which he emphasizes controversial aspects such as provisionality etc. will take their tone from Italian Government’s presentation, parliamentary debate in Rome and Italian press reaction. Bebler merely said to me “we shall not emphasize provisional theme”.
- 5.
- Yugoslav information is that Russians do not intend to attack agreement. They infer this from negative reply of Soviet counselor here to pointblank question by Yugoslav Russian desk officer. Bebler said he did not think Kremlin would let Togliatti down to extent of supporting agreement but hoped that Russian silence or reserve would mute Togliatti’s trumpets and perhaps avoid Cominformist troubles in Trieste. (Department may wish repeat this paragraph to Moscow3).
- 6.
- Bebler is now writing article for Sunday editorial of Borba October 10 entitled “The New Era” which “will set forth the prospects for future Italo-Yugoslav cooperation as we see them”.
Wallner
- Repeated for information to London, Rome, Trieste, and Paris.↩
- In telegram 1631, Sept. 30, Thompson reported that Velebit had agreed that the signing take place at 12 p.m., GMT, on Oct. 5. He also said that Yugoslavia insisted upon notifying the Security Council itself and had offered to join in a four-power notification which would be made by the respective representatives at the United Nations. Thompson said that it had been agreed, among other things, that all the documents and letters would be made public except the letter concerning the financial settlement, the letter concerning the amount of money to be provided for the cultural house, and the exchange of letters between the United Kingdom, the United States, and Italy concerning the credit institute. (750G.00/9–3054)↩
- Paragraph 5 was repeated to Moscow in telegram 230, Oct. 2. (750G.00/9–2854)↩