Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, Germany and Austria, Volume II

CFM Files: Lot M–88: Box 118: File—TRI Documents

Paper Agreed Upon by the London Conference on Germany¹

TRI/23 (Final)

Agreed Minute Relative to Certain Articles of the Document Entitled “International Control of the Ruhr” (TRI/16 (Final)²)

Article 1

It is understood that nothing in the provisions of this Article shall prevent the Bizonal and/or Trizonal area, through the appropriate authorities, from entering into a bilateral agreement with the United States Government in accordance with the provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1948.³

It is understood further that the Contracting Governments will determine, in consultation with the Governments of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg, the time when the Authority begins to exercise its functions.

Article 4

It is understood that, in accepting the provisions of this Article, neither the Government of the United States nor the Government of the United Kingdom relinquishes any rights which it possesses under the Bizonal Fusion Agreement.

Article 6(b)

It is understood that the agreements referred to herein relative to financial assistance are the Bizonal Fusion Agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom and any Trizonal Fusion Agreement which may be concluded by the United States, the United Kingdom and France.

It is further understood that the international agreement relative to the allocation of coal and coke referred to in this Article and in the first sentence of Article 5 is the Agreement concluded in Moscow on 19th April, 1947,⁴ and subsequently modified in Berlin in connexion with (i) coke, (ii) the Saar, and any extension thereof.

It is understood that nothing in Article 6 shall affect the obligations of the signatories of the Convention for European Economic Co-operation under that Convention.

Article 12

It is understood that the Governments of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg shall be fully associated with the preparation of this more detailed agreement.

London, 26 May, 1948.

1. Telegram 2295, May 27, from London, not printed, reported that this paper had been approved at an informal meeting of the London Conference on Germany on the afternoon of May 27 (740.00119 Council/5–2748). The agreed minutes comprising this paper were first discussed at an informal meeting of the Conference on May 25. Then and subsequently, Ambassador Douglas affirmed that the United States reserved its position on this paper subject to consideration of the entire work of the Conference.

   This paper was Annex D to the Report of the London Conference on Germany, p. 309.

2. Ante, p. 285.
3. As originally agreed upon by the Conference on May 27, this paragraph concluded with the phrase “… bilateral agreement with the Administrator, E.C.A.” At a meeting of the Conference on the afternoon of May 28, it was agreed to restore the language presented here (see telegram 2346, Delsec 1764, May 28, p. 298). The phrase had appeared in earlier versions of the document.
4. For the exchange of correspondence between Secretary of State Marshall and Foreign Minister Bidault on April 19, 1947, constituting the agreement under reference here, see Foreign Relations, 1947, vol. ii, pp. 486–488.