Trieste Settlement ?
It is inconceivable that Signor De Gasperi's recent visit to the United States could have gone off without some discussi,on of the Trieste territory, at present arbitrarily split into Italian and Yugo- slav zones. It is equally inconceivable that the recent joint declaration by the United States, United Kingdom and French Governments on the desirability of a revision of the Italian peace treaty can have been drawn up without thought of a new Trieste settlement. The conditions in which a new settlement might be made have been developing satisfactorily in the past few months. Neither Italians nor Yugoslays now confront each other with demands for all or nothing. Relations on the spot are more harmonious. Relations between Yugoslavia and the Western Powers have improved. It is hardly surprising that speculation is rife concerning what Mr. Harriman and Marshal Tito talked about during their meeting at Belgrade at the end of August, or that an Italian weekly journal has published what it declares to be an agreement made on that occasion, in which Italy gets a coastal strip extending beyond Trieste to include Capodistria and Pirano, which are now in the Yugoslav Zone 13, and Yugoslavia gets the hinterland, including 'a strip of what is now the Italian Zone A. There are certain obstacles to the immediate accept- ance of this story, the chief being that as recently as last Sunday the Yugoslav Foreign Minister, Mr. Kardelj, told the National Assembly that a division giving Italy the coast and Yugoslavia the hinterland was absurd. But it is just possible that the two versions might be squared by means of the assumption that nego- tiations are still in progress and that the Yugoslays are intent OR securing the best possible bargain for themselves.
Previous page
