Papers and Documents relating to the Foreign Relations of Hungary, Volume 1, 1919–1920 (Budapest, 1939)

Documents

1920 441 this preparatory commission came to Vienna at the express invitation of the Austrian Government which was anxious to prove the imperative necessity of Austria's receiving financial assistance from abroad and thus obtaining from the Reparations Commission the suspension of certain provisions of the peace treaty which precluded any credit transactions. On the other hand, I continued, Hungary is in no need of food relief, neither is she planning to obtain foreign credits. Since it appears that the Allied Missions in Vienna will have some influence in determining the establishment of the Reparations subcommission in Budapest, I should be grateful for precise instructions as to the position which the Hungarian Government takes in this matter ; as far as I am informed, the Government desires the establishment of a Reparations subcommission in Budapest which would be wholly independent of Vienna. It is my belief that there are several considerations which indicate that we should not oppose the extension of the jurisdiction of the Vienna Commission to Hungary. First, I believe that by accepting this solution, we would materially decrease the very considerable financial burden which an independent Reparations subcommission in Budapest would impose on Hungary. In the first case, about half of the expense would be borne by Austria. Secondly, account should be taken of the fact that the questions to be dealt with by the Reparations Commission will in the great majority of cases concern both Austria and Hungary. If these questions are dealt with by two different commissions, the procedure will doubtless be very complicated and complex since it will be necessary for the two commissions to reach an agreement. I do not believe that this would constitute any advantage. It is conceivable that some advantage would be derived from the fact that the independent commission in Budapest would be better situated to take account of Hungary's special interests and would not be prejudiced in favour of Austria. As against this consideration, we must take account of the fact that in case of differences between the two commissions, the decision will be made by the Reparations Commission in Paris and I doubt whether we would find more understanding in Paris than we would by a commission which had jurisdiction over both Austria and Hungary and was able to judge the situation in both countries on the basis