No. 8
Editorial Note
The Foreign Ministers of the United States, the United Kingdom, and France met in London, February 13–19 to discuss matters of mutual concern. They were joined at the end of their meeting by Chancellor Adenauer to consider questions affecting Germany. A large part of their discussions with the Chancellor concerned contractual relations, in particular security controls, a German financial [Page 13] contribution to Western defense, and the future treatment of war criminals. In the course of these discussions agreement was reached on the method of handling a German commitment on security controls, but not on the list of items which would not be produced in the Federal Republic. Shortly before the Ministers met in London the Executive Bureau of the NATO Temporary Council Committee had decided that the German financial contribution would amount to DM 11.25 billion. This figure was communicated to the Chancellor, who stated that he could not agree to the figure without consulting his Cabinet, but that he would make every effort to settle on it. Finally the Ministers agreed on a paper which outlined the future treatment of war criminals when jurisdiction over them was transferred to the Federal Republic.
Documentation on the meeting in London, including preparations for the sessions, a report by the Allied High Commission on the status of contractual relations (HICOM/P (52) 10/Final, February 12), two papers on security controls (MOG/3 Final, February 16 and the Agreed Paper on Security Controls, February 19), the agreed article on war criminals, dated February 18, and the records of the Foreign Ministers discussions with Chancellor Adenauer, is printed in volume V, Part 1, pages 1 ff.
On March 1, in a joint communiqué issued at Lisbon and Bonn, the Governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Federal Republic of Germany announced that agreement had been reached on a German financial contribution for 1952–1953 of DM 11.25 billion. For the text of the communiqué, see Department of State Bulletin, March 17, 1952, pages 423–426. Regarding further discussion of contractual relations at Lisbon, see volume V, Part 1, pages 251 ff.