Gertrude Enderle-Burcel, Dieter Stiefel, Alice Teichova (Hrsg.): Sonderband 9. „Zarte Bande” – Österreich und die europäischen planwirtschaftlichen Länder / „Delicate Relationships” – Austria and Europe’s Planned Economies (2006)
Eduard Kubů: Restoration and Régularisation of Economie Cooperation under the Circumstances of Accelerating Cold War
Eduard Kubü monitored by the United States in the open market. These illegal deals carried out by legal institutions were still taking place in 1947." In March 1946, regular diplomatic relations were restored and the office of the government’s representative was changed into an embassy. Official economic relations were developing well; in an interview for the Vienna-based reporter of the Czechoslovak Press Agency (CTK) the Austrian Chancellor Figl highly appreciated “the economic assistance from Czechoslovakia to Austria”.12 In addition to the compensations at the state level, there were also a number of private compensation transactions being concluded. Nevertheless, in the second and third quarters of 1946, the trade started to stagnate. There were several causes: differences in opinions on price levels and - most importantly - lack of compensatory goods, which Austria could offer in exchange for deliveries demanded from Czechoslovakia.13 In late summer 1946, after the validity of the compensation agreement expired, Austria started a new phase of negotiations on the development and régularisation of economic relations. The Federal Chancellor Figl gave an interview on September 15, in which he declared that Austria must maintain relations in all directions and that in economic terms it was dependent primarily on Eastern and Southern Europe.14 On the same day, the Czechoslovak Prime Minister Klement Gottwald also gave an interview to the Austrian press. He stated that Czechoslovakia was ready to discuss the exchange of important goods. He explicitly promised coal and food, which Austria still desperately lacked. He concluded the kind speech with the words: “We are neighbours and we need one another”.15 Subsequently, Mr. Heinl, the Austrian Minister of Trade, visited Czechoslovakia on the invitation of Prague Sample Trade Fairs in his position as Chairman of the Vienna Trade Fair. Before his departure, when speaking to the Austrian press, he expressed his wish to discuss, among other things, further “possibilities of restoring economic relations” in Prague.16 He even went beyond that when he stated that “Austria is dependent on the far-reaching readiness of Czechoslovakia and wants to explore all the possibilities of mutual help“. He further stated that Austria was a 12 NAP, MFA - APC, box 411, Svobodné Ceskoslovensko [Free Czechoslovakia], April 9. 1946, article “Rakouskÿ spolkovÿ kancléf o Ceskoslovenske pomoci” [Austrian Chancellor about Czechoslovak relief], 13 AMFA, PR, Vidert 1946 [Vienna 1946], Hospodâfskâ zprâva za 1. Ctvrtleti 1946 ze dne 6.4.1946 a hospodâfskà zprâva za III. Ctvrtleti 1946 z 15.10.1946 [Economic report for the first quarter of 1946, dated April 6 and Economic report for the third quarter of 1946, dated October 15]. 14 NAP, MFA - APC, box 411, inventory no. 1485, Neues Österreich 15.9.1946. article „Das Interview des Bundeskanzlers Ing. Figl“. 15 Ibid, Neues Österreich 15.9.1946, article „Österreich und die Tschechoslowakei.: Wir sind Nachbarn, wir brauchen einander“. 16 Ibid, Arbeiter Zeitung 20.9.1946, article „Österreich und die Tschechoslowakei“. 202
