Council of Foreign Ministers
외무장관회의
An institution established at the Potsdam Conference in August 1945 to draft post-war peace treaties. Composed of the foreign ministers of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, and France, it was mandated to prepare peace settlements with Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Finland and to address the German question. Over its 45-year existence it produced the 1947 Paris Peace Treaties, the 1955 Austrian State Treaty, the 1971 Four Power Agreement on Berlin, and ultimately the 1990 Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, upon whose entry into force it dissolved.
In depth
Establishment and Mandate
The Council of Foreign Ministers was created by agreement of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union at the Potsdam Conference (17 July to 2 August 1945). The Potsdam Agreement specified that the Council would comprise the foreign ministers of the five principal powers: the US, UK, USSR, China, and France. It would normally meet in London at Lancaster House, and would convene its first session no later than 1 September 1945.
Its immediate task was to draft peace treaties with Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Finland. It was also charged with preparing a peace settlement for Germany to be adopted once "a government adequate for the purpose is established," and could take up other matters referred to it by agreement of the member governments.
Major Meetings and Outcomes
| Location | Date |
|---|---|
| London | September 1945 |
| Moscow | December 1945 |
| Paris | April–July 1946 |
| New York | November–December 1946 |
| Moscow | March–April 1947 |
| London | November–December 1947 |
| Paris | September 1948 |
| Paris | May–June 1949 |
| Berlin | January–February 1954 |
| Vienna | 1955 |
| Geneva | 1955, 1959 |
| Berlin | 1971 |
| Berlin | 1990 |
The first London session (September 1945) deadlocked over the occupation of Japan and achieved little. The December 1945 Moscow session broke the impasse by agreeing on a staged procedure for the five peace treaties, and the 1946 Paris session finalized the texts, leading to the signing of the Paris Peace Treaties on 10 February 1947.
As the Cold War intensified, progress on Germany and Austria stalled. The 1947 Moscow and London sessions failed to produce a German peace treaty, agreeing only to dissolve the Free State of Prussia. The 1949 Paris session ended the Berlin Blockade but could not resolve German reunification. The 1955 Vienna session produced one of the few breakthroughs of the early Cold War: the Austrian State Treaty.
Later Activity and Dissolution
In 1971 the foreign ministers signed the Four Power Agreement on Berlin, regularizing travel and trade between West Berlin and West Germany. The 1972 Basic Treaty brought mutual recognition between East and West Germany. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the four powers and the two German governments signed the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany on 12 September 1990. The Council dissolved upon the treaty's entry into force on 15 March 1991, closing the institutional chapter that Potsdam had opened 45 years earlier.
Related historical events
Sources
- Wikipedia (EN) Full institutional history: establishment at Potsdam, composition of five powers, mandate to draft peace treaties with Italy/Romania/Bulgaria/Hungary/Finland, complete meetings list, dissolution with the 1990 Final Settlement treaty
- history.state.gov U.S. Office of the Historian: confirms the Potsdam negotiators approved the formation of a Council of Foreign Ministers to act on behalf of the US, UK, USSR, and China to draft peace treaties with Germany's former allies
- history.state.gov FRUS 1946 Vol. II: detailed account of the Council's first London session (Sept–Oct 1945), the Moscow agreement (Dec 1945) on staged peace treaty preparation, and the 1946 Paris session
- opil.ouplaw.com Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law: establishment of the Council of Foreign Ministers as a key institutional outcome of the Potsdam Conference, with legal qualification of its decisions