COUNCIL CRISIS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25964, 3 October 1945, Page 5

COUNCIL CRISIS

FOREIGN MINISTERS DEADLOCK OVER TREATIES STATUS OF MEMBERS LONDON. Oct. 1. All the members of the Foreign Ministers’ Council were to-day in touch with their Governments in a lastminute effort to save the conference from complete shipwreck, says the Express political correspondent. It seems impossible that they will succeed, and the conference may have to break up without even agreeing on the official record of its proceedings. It is thought that if this is the case it is unlikely the Council will ever meet again. Some entirely new form of consultation might be worked out by the major United Nations’ Governments. The threat of a complete breakdown came suddenly, although it was clear for some days that the conference was in grave difficulties. Fruitless Discussions The present position is that even the few points on which a measure of agreement was reached are once more in the melting pot, so the results of the three weeks’ meetings may be nil. Developments to-day suggest that there will be practically nothing to go before the experts who were to continue the discussions, after their chiefs ieft London, to prepare plans for the next meeting, probably in December. A crisis resulted from a highly technical but fundamental difference of opinion between the Foreign Ministers over the status of various Council members in discussing and framing peace treaties with the enemies. The Potsdam Conference ruled that only Governments which accepted the surrender of any Axis countries should participate in preparing the peace treaties. It was unanimously agreed at the opening of the Foreign Ministers’ Council meeting to allow all five members to attend all meetings, but that only those directly concerned should have the final say in framing the treaties. It was on this basis that the Ministers began to discuss the Italian and Finnish- treaties. Subsequently a deadlock arose over the Russian claims for individual trusteeship of the Italian colony in Africa. Mr Molotov, when it was proposed to carry on a discussion on the Bulgarian and Rumanian treaties, invoked the Potsdam ruling, and objected to the French and Chinese representatives’ presence on the ground that their Govvernments had not signed the surrender of either of these countries. A deadlock again developed over this problem, but it was agreed to by-pass it. '