TRIESTE AGREEMENT

Wanganui Chronicle, 4 October 1946, Page 5

TRIESTE AGREEMENT

INTEGRITY GUARANTEED RUSSIAN BLOC OUTVOTED

Recd. 5.5 p.m. Paris, Oct. 2. Despite opposition from Russia and the Slav hloe. the Italian Political and Territorial Committee to-day accepted French compromise proposals for the future government of Trieste. The agreement, which was reached after an eight-hour session, was carried by 14 votes to six after the French proposals had been voted on section by section. A Soviet amendment to the French proposals, namely, that all foreign troops should be withdrawn from the free territory within 30 days of the ratification of the peace treaty, was rejected by 13 votes to 6.

The French draft proposal, which defines the broad principles of a future statute for the free territory of Trieste, is as follows:

(!) The Security Council to guarantee the free territory’s integrity and independence. (2) The territory should be demilitarised, and no armed force allowed on it, unless authorised by the Security Council.

(3) The formation of a Popular Assembly with a Council of Government appointed by, and responsible to, the Assembly. (4) Certain limitations on the powers of the Assembly and Council resulting from rights conferred .on the Governor.

(5) The Security Council, after consulting Italy and Yugoslavia, to appoint a Governor, who would be empowered to propose laws and veto laws threatening the Security Council’s responsibility.

The dominant factor in Trieste today was a sense of fear, said Mr. Sterndale Bennett (Britain:, opening fhe final debate. Mr. Bennett said the sense of fear had been produced by illegal strikes, intimidation and terrorist activities on both sides. NIGHTLY OUTRAGES “While we at this conference have been talking, scarcely a night has passed without a bomb outrage in Trieste,” he said. "Reports from the territory show a melancholy list of political murders, abductions and assaults. It is this knowledge that makes the British delegation so insistent on urging that everything be done to establish a new regime to promote peace, stability, public order' and security.” Mr. Bennett added that the lawless acts to which he referred were not the result of mere sporadic and unorganised hands whose object was to frustrate and counteract the activities of the other side. It was these organisations which hoped to seize power in the new free territory. Mr. Bennett said that Britain was not interested in establishing a regime which would facilitate the task of anyone wishing to seize power in the free territory for sectional interests.

Mr. Bennett, replying to a Yugoslav allegation that the British proposals

would establish an iron curtain between Yugoslavia and the free territory, said that Britain did not favour iron curtains of any kind, anywhere, and no such curtain would be established unless Yugoslavia did so. RUSSIAN OPPOSITION Mr. Vyshinsky (Russia) strongly attacked the British, French and American proposals, and urged the committee to adopt the broad principles on which the Big Four had agreed, and leave the details to the Foreign Ministers’ Council, “where discussions would be easier and more auspicious.” Mr. Vyshinsky said that Britain, France and America wanted a more limited statute for Trieste than existed in ordinary countries. They apparently wanted to see some sort of extraordinary Government, but such extraordinary Governments had been thrown into the ash can, and their leaders would soon be hanging from the end of a rope.

Mr. Vyshinsky, replying to Mr. Bennett’s description of conditions in Trieste, said: “If there is something amiss, it is no fault of the people or racial feeling. It is the fault of the present regime.” U.S.A. SUPPORT Senator Connally (United States) said his delegation would support the French proposals, adding that the Security Council must have an arm reaching to Trieste to see that law and order were preserved. The Governor must be empowered to do that. Mr. Vilfan (Yugoslavia) attacked the French proposals, saying that the provision for Security Council forces to enter the territory was unnecessary. It would put the territory’s Provisional Government under the force of foreign Powers.

“This is what we want to avoid,” he added.

Mr. Murville. (France) stressed that under the French proposals no armed forces would be allowed permanently in the free territory. A Polish proposal that the Trieste Statute should be reconsidered by the Big Four, who should allow Yugoslavia to restate her views before reaching a decision, was rejected by 14 votes to 6.