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Documents on Germany, 1944-1959: background documents on Germany, 1944-1959, and a chronology of political developments affecting Berlin, 1945-1956
(1959)
Soviet proposal on basic principles of the treaty between the existing groups of states in Europe, November 9, 1955, pp. 177-178
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Report by Secretary of State Dulles on the Geneva foreign ministers meeting, November 18, 1955, pp. 178-185
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Page 178
DOCUMENTS - ON -GERM4ANY, 19 44-5 9 interest of the maintenance of peace in Europe. Such a treaty might be based on the following principles:. 1. The member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organiza- tion and of the Paris Agreements, on the one hand, and the parties to the Warsaw Treaty, on the other, undertake to refrain from the use of armed force against one another. This undertaking shall not infringe upon the right of states to individual or collec- tive self-de ense in the event of an armed attack, as provided in Article 51 of the UN Charter. 2. The parties to the Treaty undertake to consult one another in the event of differences and disputes which might, constitute a threat to the maintenance of peace in Europe. 3. This Treaty is of a provisional nature and shall remain in effect until it is replaced by another treaty for the establish- ment of a system of collective security in Europe. Report by Secretary of State Dulles on the Geneva Foreign Ministers Meeting, November 18, 1955 1 For the last three weeks the British, the French and ourselves have been negotiating with the Russians at Geneva. I got back yesterday and reported fully to the President in a talk which began last evening and was resumed this morning. Now I am. reporting to you, the American people. As I expect most of you know, this Geneva meeting did not reach any agreements. As a result, many questions are in the air. Does this mean that the so-called "spirit of Geneva" is dead? Does it mean that the risk of war has increased? Will the so-called "cold war" be resumed in full vigor? Will the United States now have to change basically its military and mutual security programs? Does it mean an end to negotiating with the Soviet Union? I shall try to answer all of these questions. First of all, however, I would like to recall how this latest Geneva Conference came about. I go back to last spring. Until then Soviet Russia had been pur- suing a menacing policy. That was Stalin's line. He believed it, was possible to ride roughshod over the free nations. After Stalin died, that effort continued for a time. The Soviets made intense and blustering efforts to keep West Germany apart from the other Western European nations. Despite this, the Federal Re- public of Germany last May joined NATO and the Brussels Treaty creating Western European Union. This Soviet failure was followed by a change in the Soviet de- meanor. Stalin's successors professed, at least superficially, to desire cooperative relations with the free nations. And they made im- portant concessions for this purpose. For eexample, they had for eight years refused to sign the Treaty which would give Austria her freedom. But last May they signed that Treaty and pulled the Red Army out of Austria. 1 Ibid., pp. 1-9. Delivered over radio and television. 178
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