The purpose of this memorandum is to report to you on the present situation with regard to the proposed supplementary Status of Forces Agreement with the Federal Republic of Germany. This agreement will be negotiated between the NATO countries having forces in Germany and the Federal Republic. When it has been concluded, the supplementary agreement and the NATO Status of Forces Agreement⁵² to which the Federal Republic is expected to accede, will replace the Bonn Conventions (Forces and Finance Conventions) which now govern the status of allied forces in Germany.⁵³

Procedure

The recommendations of the Three Powers regarding the procedure for negotiating the agreement were discussed recently at a meeting in Paris between representatives of all NATO countries having forces in the Federal Republic. There was general agreement on all points save the Chairman. No chairman has yet been appointed. Certain countries, including ourselves and the U.K., are still in favour of a NATO chairman for these negotiations but the U.S. and France are opposed to this idea. Belgium, Denmark and The Netherlands have been named as possible countries which might provide a chairman. A paper based on the recommendations of the Three Powers as approved by the other NATO countries concerned has been given to German officials in Bonn for their comments.

Substance

At the present time a tripartite (U.K., U.S. and France) working group in Bonn is preparing a draft paper regarding the points which they would like to see covered by the Supplementary Status Agreement. When the Three Powers have reached agreement among themselves on this substance paper they will ask the other countries having forces in Germany to comment on it. When agreement is reached between all the allied countries with forces in Germany on what concession should be asked from the Germans this substance paper will be discussed with the Federal Republic.

According to the information we have been able to obtain from U.K. and U.S. sources it is apparent that from the beginning the U.K. and U.S. forces wanted to ask for considerable concessions from the Germans. However, the Foreign Office and the State Department have, to some extent, whittled down their demands to a point where they can be considered as politically feasible.

At a recent ad hoc meeting in the Department of National Defence, at which a representative of this Department was present, the services reviewed all the points of substance which it is expected will be contained in the tripartite paper, and have evaluated their importance with respect to Canadian forces. The views of the Department of National Defence will eventually be sent to this Department for comment and eventual incorporation into the instructions for the Canadian negotiating team.

On the whole we think that the Department of National Defence are being realistic about the concessions which should be asked from the Germans. It may be, however, that for political reasons this Department will be reluctant to support all of the concessions which our forces or those of other NATO countries would like to obtain from the Germans. In this event, presumably Ministers will have to decide whether it would be in Canada's interest to support other NATO countries, particularly the Three Powers, in demanding certain concessions from the Germans which may not strictly speaking be commensurate with the Federal Republic's new position as a member of NATO.

Over the next two or three weeks we shall be preparing the instructions for the Canadian negotiating team in consultation with the other departments concerned. When agreement has been reached at the official level we would propose to seek Cabinet approval of these instructions.

It is doubtful if the actual negotiations with the Germans will start before early July.⁵⁴

J. L[ÉGER]