Text Version


                                                            
                                                            
 
 
                            -11-                            
 
      who has established most excellent relations with General Tito. 
      As the House will have seen from the newspapers today, the Soviet 
      government have decided also to send a military mission to the 
      Partisan Commander-in-Chief. I want to make it quite plain where 
      we stand in this. Mr. Molotov was good enough to discuss this 
      project with me, both when I was in Moscow sad more recently 
      in Teheran. He said, "You have a mission with them, and 
      we think of sending a mission, too." We, of course, endorsed 
      this proposal --- the Prime Minister and I Mr. Molotov and I 
      agreed that our two missions shall work together in the closest 
      collaboration when the Soviet mission reaches the country. That 
                         is the position.                   
 
                                                            
 
 
Now for another development since I left Teheran. As the House 
      is aware, a supreme legislative committee and the executive national 
      committee of liberation have recently been set up under the auspices 
      of the Commander-in-Chief of the Partisan forces. So far as I 
      am aware, this national committee does not claim authority outside 
      the borders of the area in which it operates. It has certainly 
      not claimed shy form of recognition from His Majesty's government. 
      As I understand the position and as it has been reported to me 
      by our officers, the Partisans emphasize the provisional nature 
      of this administration, and they hold that it is for the Yugoslav 
      people, as soon as their country is liberated, freely to choose 
      the form of government they prefer. If that is the position, 
      this, too, is the view of His Majesty's government. It is also, 
      as I know, because he has told us so, the desire of King Peter 
      himself and the policy of His government (Hon. Members: "Oh".) 
      They have publicly declared it as their policy. We must be fair 
      in all this. A public statement was made by the government that 
      the moment the war was over they would lay doom their portfolios 
   and the country would choose what government they preferr
 
                                                            
 
 
Mr. A Be %van (Ebbw Vale): Do the radio pronouncements of the 
      Yugoslav government from Cairo confirm that statement?
 
                                                            
 
 
Mr. Eden: Certainly, Sir. I am not trying to say that the 
      government agree on all points with the Partisans. Clearly that 
      is not so. II am trying to make a fair approach to this very 
      difficult question and what I am saying is that all including 
      the government in Cairo, have declared that the moment their 
      country is 
View Original View Previous Page View Next Page Return to Folder IndexReturn to Box Index