BIG FOUR TALKS IN BERLIN

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27226, 18 December 1953, Page 11

BIG FOUR TALKS IN BERLIN

East German Claim Rejected (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, December 16. British officials in London today rejected the claim by the Vice-Premier of East Germany (Mr Walter Ulbricht) that East and West German delegates should meet at the same time as the Big Four Foreign Ministers. They said Britain could not object to representatives of East and West Germans meeting if they wished, but the Communist East German authorities in fact represented no-one but the Soviet occupation forces, and any negotiations with them were pointless. The officials said Dr. Adenauer had already rejected all attempts by the East German regime to meet on equal terms with his representatives. For this reason the Western Powers were determined not to give any countenance to the regime of Mr Ulbricht and his nominal chief. Mr Klement Grotewohl. Nor would East German delegates be allowed into the Big Four conference in Berlin. None of Dr. Adenauer’s representatives would be at the conference, but the Western Powers would consult fully with Dr. Adenauer throughout the talks. Mr Ulbricht suggested that delegates from East and West Germany should meet to discuss a peace treaty at the same time as the Big Four Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Berlin. In a speech to the East German Chamber of Deputies he said his Government proposed that representatives of East and West Germany should be invited to attend the Big Four conference when German questions were discussed.

He added that the East German Government was still prepared to agree with representatives of the West German Government to form a provisional all-German Government to prepare for all-German free elections.