740.5/12–2251: Telegram
The United States High Commissioner for Germany (McCloy) to the Secretary of State 1
850. This is tripartitely agreed cable referred to in our Niact sent Dept 849 (and ECA) rtpd info Paris 276 (OSR) London 222.2
Verbatim text: “It seems clear after our first discussions with Schaeffer and Blank that the Germans are thinking along the fol lines:
The Fed Govt has no other def commitments to make than those that fol from its participation in EDC.
The amount of the Ger financial contribution for def shld be fixed by the Paris Conference which will also have to establish the amount of the contribution of the other member countries of EDC. The total contribution of each country shld be made to the common budget from which will also be met the whole of the def expenditures of the member countries.
The costs for the support of non-EDC Allied Forces stationed in Germany shld, therefore, be paid from the common budget and wld not constitute a specific obligation of Germany but an obligation of the community. It wld fol from this that forces could not enjoy in Germany other rights, privileges and support than those which are accorded them by other member countries of EDC on whose territory they are stationed. In effect an identical regime shld prevail in the whole territory of EDC.
This thinking is contrary to the instructions which were sent by the three Foreign Ministers from Rome and in effect if it is accepted then negotiations in Bonn wld have no object. We are all agreed, therefore, that it must be rejected. Nevertheless there is a doubt regarding the duration of the agreements to be concluded with the Fed Govt both on the rights and privileges of the Allied Forces as well as on the procedure for giving financial and material assistance.
The UK and the US believe the convention negotiated in Bonn shld contain a provision making it possible, but not automatic, to revise the convention after the EDC and the common budget come into force. We believe this essential because:
- (1)
- The German obligation for a defense contribution must be an obligation to the occupying powers and not to EDC.
- (2)
- This obligation cannot at this time be delegated to EDC nor can it automatically be changed as a consequence of EDC decisions to which the US and UK are not parties, and
- (3)
- An automatic revision stated at this time will prejudice the negotiations in Bonn. The Germans will seek every opportunity in the EDC negotiations to fix conditions more favorable to them than those asked in the Bonn contract, and I thus oppose the Bonn demands on the grounds that the possible divergence between the EDC agreements and our demands will be politically impossible of resoultion.
The Fr representative raises the question whether it is not necessary to have an automatic revision clause. The Regime covering the EDC Allied Forces will be fixed by the EDC treaty and it wld probably be difficult then to maintain a different regime for the non-EDC Allied Forces.