Office of the Historian

68. Memorandum of Conversation0

September 23, 1959.

SUBJECT

  • Outer Seven

PARTICIPANTS

  • Austrians
    • Dr. Bruno Kreisky, Minister of Foreign Affairs1
    • Dr. Wilfried Platzer, Austrian Ambassador
    • Dr. Heinrich Haymerle, Director of the Political Division, Foreign Office
  • Americans
    • Under Secretary Dillon
    • Mr. White—EUR
    • Mr. Cameron—WE
    • Mr. Wehmeyer—L/EUR
    • Mr. Wells—WE

The Foreign Minister explained that Austria could not join the Common Market primarily because it would not be compatible with Austrian neutrality. He said Austria would participate in the Outer Seven in the hope that it would lead to a larger free trade area in Europe.

The Under Secretary hoped that, if the Outer Seven group became a reality, it would be compatible with GATT provisions and would contribute to free multilateral trade. We would be very disturbed if any economic groupings of European countries failed to contribute to the expansion of multilateral trade. The Under Secretary thought that perhaps, if the Outer Seven should not become a reality, Austria might work out some special arrangement with the Common Market.

The Foreign Minister said that Austria had not had very happy experiences in working out special arrangements. He gave as an example Austria’s attempts to work with the Coal and Steel Community. He described the Germans as cooperative, but he had had considerable difficulty with the French. For example, he had repeatedly asked the French Ambassador in Vienna for the views of the French Government on any possible way Austria could become associated with the Common Market group, but he had received not a single word in reply to his requests.

The Under Secretary pointed out that one of the most encouraging developments of the past year was the improved economic condition of France. As a result, French businessmen are becoming less afraid of foreign [Page 148] competition. The feeling in American circles is that the French have begun moving, and may go further, towards thinking in terms of a low tariff, rather than a high tariff, area. We of course favor such a low tariff area. He added that the result of such a development might be the acceptance by France of generally lower external Common Market tariffs, which would of course be beneficial to Austria.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 440.002/9–2359. Confidential. Drafted by Wells and initialed by White.↩
  2. Kreisky was in the United States to attend the 14th Session of the U.N. General Assembly and the annual meeting of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.↩