Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, Paris Peace Conference: Proceedings, Volume III

CFM Files

United States Delegation Journal

August 31, 1946, 4 p.m.

USDel (PC) (Journal) 30

The New Zealand Delegate said that he was not prepared to make a formal amendment to Article 39 of the Italian Treaty but wished only that the New Zealand statement be recorded in the minutes.² Article 39 was then adopted unanimously. The next article to be considered was Article 41, Article 40 having been adopted at the last meeting. After discussion of the Yugoslav amendment, Article 41 was adopted unanimously with the Yugoslav amendment (CP Gen. Doc U 14) as amended by General Balmer’s suggestion. The U.S. suggestion replaced the word “shelters” in Articles 40 and 41 with “protected accommodations for personnel, stores and ammunition”.³ The amendment was adopted for both articles.

Articles 42 and 43 were adopted without discussion since no amendments had been tabled.

[Here follows a brief two-paragraph account of the Commission’s consideration of article 44.⁴]

Articles 45 and 46 were adopted unanimously.

There was a long discussion as to whether to defer discussion of Articles 46a, and 46b (C.P. Gen. Doc. 1 J 7) proposed by the Greek Delegation. The Greek Delegate suggested deferring discussion until the principle of military control had been established or rejected. In the course of this debate some opposition appeared from the USSR to the substance of the proposed articles. The meeting was adjourned at 1:10 p.m. without any conclusion having been reached either on the time for discussing the Greek proposal or on its substance.

The next meeting is to be held Monday at 10 a.m.

2. For partial text of the New Zealand statement, see footnote 82, p. 310.
3. The Journal account is somewhat misleading. The Yugoslav amendment was a detailed description of installations which Italy would be prohibited from constructing within 20 kilometers of her borders. It was in effect withdrawn when in the course of debate Admiral Manola accepted the United States proposal for rewording paragraph 1 b. (CFM Files: United States Delegation Minutes)

4. The United States Delegation Minutes give a more detailed account of the discussion and indicate that the following occurred.

   The Belgian delegation proposed amendment C.P. (Gen.) Doc. 1.C.1 which called for the following to be added as the final paragraph of article 44: “She shall not, for military purposes, engage in research concerned with the application or development of nuclear energy.” The Polish delegation then proposed an alternative amendment designed to clarify the fact that Italy was not forbidden to explore the peaceful uses of atomic energy. The Soviet representative suggested that the article, which forbad Italy to possess, construct or experiment with certain weapons, be made to include a new point 1, “any atomic weapon,” and that the existing points be renumbered 2–5. Article 44 thus amended was supported by the United States and British delegations, and after the Belgian and Polish delegations withdrew their amendments, adopted unanimously, with the exception of its final point. Consideration of this point, torpedoes, was deferred since the possibility of its being revised still existed. (CFM Files).

   For text of article 44 as finally approved, see the Commission’s report, C.P.(Plen) Doc. 17, October 5, vol. iv, p. 430.