FOREIGN RELATIONS, 19 4 6, VOLUME IV



its Statute and appointing the Governor, the Ministers considered that
the latter should be the representative of the Security Council in the
Free Territory and should, in this capacity, be given powers sufficient
to enable him to ensure observance of the principles contained in the
decision of July 3rd which the Permanent Statute is primarily in-
tended to guarantee. This is why it was necessary to allow the Gover-
nor to take appropriate steps to safeguard those principles whenever
they were involved, that is whenever the points at issue affected the
integrity or independence of the Free Territory, human or civic rights,
or the application of the Permanent Statute.
  Moreover, the guiding principle which has prompted the Council
of Foreign Ministers to have a draft Permanent Statute prepared by
the Conference derived from their anxiety to guarantee the mainte-
nance of peace and the security of the population in this region.
Hence the general structure of the draft submitted by the French
delegation which emphasises the important role to be played by the
Security Council in supervising the Free Territory and entrusts the
Governor, as representative of the Council, with the task of main-
taining public order and with certain responsibilities connected with
the operation of public services in the Free Territory.
  The decision of the Council of Foreign Ministers further provides
that the executive organs and legislative bodies shall be established
on democratic principles. The provisions in the French delegation's
draft concerning the Assembly and the Council of Government ap-
pointed therefrom are based on this principle. However, it had to be
borne in mind that the intention of the Council of Foreign Ministers
was to create not a State but a Free Territory and that the Gov-
ernment of the latter would necessarily have to deal with essentially
administrative problems. It was therefore advisable to include pro-
visions which would give a certain stability to the Council of
Government.
  Finally, with regard to the establishment of a Free Port at Trieste,
the French draft differs from the other drafts in that it suggests to
make the whole of the Free Territory of Trieste a free zone. The
French delegation believes that this would have the effect of ensuring
the prosperity of the Free Territory by favouring the maintenance
and expansion of the manufacturing industries and certain branches
of trade. This would seem most important as on this prosperity will
depend in the last instance 'the prosperity of the public finances of
the Free Territory and the stability of its currency.
  However, the French delegation has made its contribution to the
work of the Sub-Commission for the Free Port in order to look for
some other formula in case its own proposal should not be adopted.



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