762A.00/3–151
The Chairman of the Allied High Commission for Germany (Kirkpatrick) to the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (Adenauer).
Mr. Chancellor: You will recall that the Foreign Ministers, in their Communiqué on Germany, issued in New York on September 19, [Page 771] 1950, after referring to their willingness to amend the Occupation Statute, stated that “the Federal Republic will be expected to undertake certain commitments and other actions consonant with its new responsibilities.”
In view of the fact that the amendments to the Occupation Statute now under active consideration will transfer to the Federal Government certain reserved powers, the exercise of which may become necessary in the interest of the defence effort of the Western Nations, the Allied High Commission hereby requests the Federal Government formally to give an assurance that it will co-operate with the Western Powers in the equitable apportionment of materials, products, and services which are or may be in short supply or required for the common defence.
At the present time it is not possible to determine in detail the areas where shortage can be expected, the Organisations which will be designated to cope with these shortages, or the specific measures which the Federal Government might find it necessary to take in the discharge of its obligations. It can be stated, however, that now and in the immediate future the Federal Government is expected to maintain conditions under which Western orders may be freely placed within the area of the Federal Republic and under which deliveries against these orders will be made in the normal course of events, and not to increase unduly the internal consumption of these goods at the expense of exports. It can also be anticipated that, with the prospective increase in the defence effort of the Western Powers, the Federal Government will be expected to lend support to industries producing critical items in short supply and to institute measures designed to assure, at fair prices, supplies of finished goods, raw materials and services for Western defence requirements in an equitable proportion to the Federal Republic’s internal requirements for consumption and investment and in preference to the import demands of countries outside the Western defence effort.
I beg [etc.]