§ 7 and 8. Major Tufton Beamishasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1) whether he will report on the result of the joint Anglo-American inspections of the Bulgarian-Greek frontier zone, due to be demilitarised under Article 12 of the Peace Treaty with Bulgaria; on what dates these inspections took place; what form they took; and whether it is his intention to carry out periodical inspections;
(2) if he will make a statement with regard to the powers of inspection conferred on His Majesty's Government under Article 35 (3) of the Peace Treaty with Bulgaria and corresponding articles in the Treaties with Hungary and Roumania; and whether, as a result of these powers, he is now satisfied that the military clauses of these three Peace Treaties are being fully complied with.
§ Mr. MayhewI will, with permission, take this Question and Question No. 8 together.
§ Major BeamishOn a point of Order. With great respect, Mr. Speaker, is not this habit of taking two quite separate Questions together an undesirable one and may I have your Ruling on it?
§ Major Guy LloydFurther to that point of Order, is it not a matter of permission. Whose permission is required, and has that permission been given?
Mr. SpeakerI do not know, but I imagine that if permission is not given, the same answer will be read out twice.
§ Mr. MayhewWith permission, I will not read out the same answer twice, but will, if I may, answer each Question separately.
The answer to Question No. 7 is that no joint Anglo-American inspection of the Bulgarian-Greek frontier zone has yet taken place, because the Bulgarian Government have refused to give the assistance stipulated in Article 35 (3) and have declined to accept responsibility for the consequences if independent action is taken to ensure that demilitarisation, under Article 12 of the Treaty, is in fact being carried out.
§ Major BeamishIs the Under-Secretary aware that the Bulgarian Foreign Minister only last month denied that there was any obstruction on the part of the Bulgarian Government, and are we to be told that because the Bulgarian Government do not want this frontier area inspected, we have not the guts to do it?
§ Mr. MayhewNo, Sir, it is rather the attitude of the Soviet Government which makes action difficult. Under the Treaty, the co-operation of the Soviet Government is required. We have asked for discussions, but this has been declined.
§ Mr. EdenAre not these protestations, both from the Soviet Government and the Bulgarian Government, that all the fault lies with the Greek Government, hard to reconcile with refusal of permission to the Allied Commission to go there to see what is going on?
§ Mr. MayhewThey are a little difficult to reconcile with that, and completely contrary to the report of the United Nations Commission.
§ Mr. KeelingIs not this the very area, or one of the areas, from which the Greek rebels have been supplied, and is not that an additional reason for trying to carry out our obligations under the Treaty?
§ Mr. MayhewThat is so; however, we must be the judge of what action is effective and appropriate in the circumstances.