GENERAL BALKAN POLICY
 
     It is the desire of this Government that the three 
principle Allies should consider the problems of South-
eastern Europe in their relation to general European wel-
fare and security.  The distinctions between Allied and 
enemy states are gradually merging into a single problem 
as the "satellites" come under the administration of Al-
lied Control Commissions, with some participation in the 
war against Germany in a status approaching co-belligerency.
 
     An important aspect of this problem is the tendency 
of one or another of the principal allies to exert a par-
ticular influence in a given country, or to come to an ar-
rangement defining the regions where such influence would 
be admitted as paramount (See separate paper on American
Policy Toward Spheres of Influence).  The mere dissociation 
of the United States from such arrangements does not con-
stitute a policy unless an effort is made to impress upon 
the other principle Allies the need for restraint, if 
the several peoples are really to be left free to determine
the kind of democratic institutions best suited to their 
needs.
 
     In a recent consideration of these problems the De-
partment agreed on certain basic principles by which the 
policy of this Government should be guided.  They are:
     
     1.   The right of peoples to choose for themselves 
without outside interference the type of political, social, and 
economic systems they desire, so long as they 
conduct their affairs in such a way as not to menace the 
peace and security of others.
 
     2.   Equality of opportunity, as against the setting 
up of a policy of exclusion, in commerce, transit and 
trade; and freedom to negotiate, either through govern-
ment agencies or private enterprise, irrespective of the 
type of economic system in operation.
 
     3.   The right of access to all countries on an equal 
and unrestricted basis of bona fide representatives of the 
recognized press and information agencies of other nations 
engaged in gathering news and other forms of public information 
for dissemination to the public in their own countries; and 
the right to transmit information gathered by them to points 
outside such territories without hindrance or discrimination.
 
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