No. 212
Editorial Note
For the 2 weeks following the opening session on April 8, a series of meetings was held between representatives of the High Authority and the Departments of State and Treasury, the Foreign Operations Administration, and the Export–Import Bank. Summary minutes of several, but not all, meetings were found in Department of State files. The minutes of the afternoon meeting on April 8, which summarized a discussion of the general purpose of the proposed loan, the types of projects to be funded by the loan, and an estimate of the rate at which the loan would be depleted, are in RA files, lot 58 D 374, “CSC Loan Negotiations—1954”. Minutes of the meeting on April 9, where the discussion focused on the problem of restrictions on imports of United States coal and the problem of cartels, are in Conference files, lot 59 D 95, CF 237. Minutes of the April 15 meeting, which summarized an article-by-article consideration of the United States draft agreement on the loan, are in Conference files, lot 59 D 95, CF 237.
On April 22 the major Embassies in Western Europe were informed that the signing of the agreement on the United States loan to the European Coal and Steel Community would take place at 3:30 p.m. (Eastern standard time) on April 23 and that a press release would be issued at the time of the signing. (Telegram Edcol 108 to Paris, April 22; 850.33/4–2254) For the text of the press release, which announced the completion of the arrangements for a loan of $100 million by the United States to the High Authority, as well as the text of the remarks made at the signing ceremony by Acting Secretary of State Smith, Jean Monnet, Heinz Potthoff, and Enzo Giacchero, see Department of State Bulletin, May 3, 1954, pages 671–673. A copy of the loan agreement is in Bruce Mission files, lot 57 M 38, “U.S. Loan—Implementation”.