AUSTRIAN STATE TREATY BILL (Hansard, 5 July 1955)

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE MARQUESS OF READING)
My Lords, the House will, I am sure, share the real and deep satisfaction of Her Majesty's Government that we are at last in a position to commend to the House a Bill which arises out of a Treaty for the re-establishment of an 417 independent and democratic Austria. That is a concept to which the Allies rightly committed themselves as long ago as the Moscow Conference in 1943, at the height of the war. Though it has taken, not through any fault of ours, a long time to come about, the project has now been realised. It is perhaps worth mentioning that the Treaty is not a Treaty of Peace, and for this reason: this country was never at war with the State of Austria, but was at war only with Austria as incorporated into the German Reich. The Treaty is, therefore, not an Austrian Treaty of Peace on the model of those with Japan and other countries, but is the Austrian State Treaty.
I do not propose to go into the various quite numerous articles of which that Treaty is composed, but to confine myself to the terms of the actual Bill. The Treaty had been signed when your Lordships were debating the humble Address in answer to the gracious Speech, and during those debates no criticism was raised of the character or the terms of the Treaty. The Bill which I am now submitting to the House for consideration is purely and simply an enabling Bill and the purpose of it—as in the case of other Bills of the same kind—is to give to Her Majesty the Power, by the method of Orders in Council and otherwise, to make the provisions of the Austrian Treaty operative. I agree that it may in the end be proved by events that a Bill of this kind was rot in fact necessary. But Her Majesty's Government prefer—and I think your Lordships will agree that it is right—to be forearmed in case of need, rather than to run the risk at some later stage of finding themselves confronted by a difficulty arising under the Treaty which can be resolved only by recourse to Parliament at that stage. It is therefore, in our view, much wiser and more practical to eliminate the possibilities of difficulty at the outset.
It must be remembered that the provisions of a Treaty do not automatically become part of our domestic law, and that before they can he so established some statutory authority is required. I think I can make the point most plain by giving a simple example arising from the Treaty. There is in Article 24 an agreement by the Austrian Government to waive all claims against Her Majesty's Government or against private citizens of this country arising out of the war or the 418 Occupation. If the Austrian Government, disregarding that provision of the Treaty, were to initiate proceedings in this country against a private citizen, based upon a claim arising out of the war or out of the Occupation, it would not be possible for that private citizen to plead, as a defence to the action by the Austrian Government, that there was this waiver in the Treaty unless that provision, together with other provisions of the Treaty, had been validated as part of British law by the legal process which is achieved by this enabling Bill and the subsequent Orders in Council made under it.
For the rest, it is not at this stage possible, as I think your Lordships will appreciate, to say with any finality what matters will have to be included in the Orders in Council, when the time comes to make them. In that respect the Bill is the same as the other enabling Acts which were passed at various dates between 1947 and 1951 in connection with the Treaties of Peace with Italy, Roumania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Finland and Japan. But Her Majesty's Government must be on sure ground both in discharging the obligations which they have incurred by their signature of the Treaty and also in seeking to exercise such rights as are conferred upon them by the terms of the Treaty.
The Bill includes powers to introduce certain penal clauses. Again, similar powers were given by those earlier enabling Acts in relation to the Treaties with the other countries to which I have just referred. Although, under those earlier Treaties, these penal powers have not, I think, in any case been exercised in the form of a prosecution, it is nevertheless desirable that they should reappear in this case, both because they follow the precedent of the past and also because they might be of use in the future, and they might be required in the carrying out of the provisions of this particular Treaty. The sort of thing that might happen is this. Under Article 27 of the Treaty there: are to be certain returns of property to the Austrian Government, and in the course of finding out whether such property is returnable or not Her Majesty's Government might require information from persons able to give it. In that case, if the person proved refractory and did not volunteer the information that was required it might 419 be necessary to take proceedings in order to obtain that information, with the object of fully discharging the provisions of the Treaty. Therefore, to guard against any possible emergency, we desire to retain the power to make an order in regard to penal clauses in this Treaty.
We have thought it advisable that this Bill should obtain the sanction of both Houses of Parliament—it has already, of course, passed through another place—before ratification of the Treaty takes place. But we share, I am sure, with your Lordships, the desire that ratification should be at the earliest possible moment, because the date upon which the Occupation Forces shall at long last be withdrawn from Austrian territory depends upon the date upon which the Treaty comes into force; and the Treaty cannot come into force by the provisions inherent in it until all the parties to it have ratified. Therefore, two countries, Austria and the Soviet Union, having already ratified, the United States being on the point of ratification and France being prepared to ratify in the very close future, we desire to share with the other parties to this Treaty in putting it into operation at the earliest possible moment, so that Austria may now regain her sovereignty and freedom. I beg to move that the Bill be now read a second time.

§ LORD HENDERSON
My Lords, I am glad to be able to assure the noble Marquess that, so far as we are concerned, he will get his Bill without any delay. The broad purpose of the Bill, as we have been told, is to provide for carrying into effect the Austrian State Treaty. It is a simple Bill and purely technical. As the noble Marquess himself described it, it is an enabling Bill, but it does not enable Her Majesty's Government to do very much, because action under the Bill, in the main, requires Orders in Council, and Orders in Council will have to be submitted to Parliament. In this respect, as the noble Marquess told us, precedent is being followed, because similar powers were taken by the Labour Government in respect of the Treaties to which they were a party.
420 We are at one with Her Majesty's Government in our anxiety to see the Austrian State Treaty carried into effect as soon as possible. Ratification of the Treaty by this country will follow upon the passage of this Bill, and, as the noble Marquess has reminded us, even occupation cannot be brought to an end, or the beginning of the ending of the occupation cannot take place, until the Treaty is in operation. That, I think, is a very good reason why there should be no delay, or no unnecessary delay, in carrying the Treaty through. It will be a happy day for Austria and for the Austrian people when the Treaty actually conies into force.
It is nearly fifteen years since the four Powers declared that they regarded the annexation of Austria by Germany as null and void and affirmed their wish to see Austria re-established as a free and independent State. It is ten years since, as a result of the Allied victory, Austria was liberated from the domination of Hitlerite Germany. I had the good fortune to attend in 1949 the meeting of the four Foreign Ministers in Paris when a solution was found for the blockade of Berlin. We met with failure in our efforts to advance the cause of German reunion, but in respect of the Austrian State Treaty agreement was achieved excepting on four articles. Those four articles were referred to the Deputies and it was expected that the four articles would be brought to an agreement before the end of the year. Six years have passed since then, and it is only now, in 1955, that Austrian independence is to be actually achieved. The Treaty may not be all we should like it to be, but I think it can be said that it is better than at one time seemed possible.
Both the Treaty and the Bill refer to the re-establishment of an independent and democratic Austria. Austria has been a democratic State for the past nine years. It does not require any Treaty to restore Austrian democracy; the Austrians restored their own democracy, and they will safeguard it. The co-operation of the two main political Parties in Austria during the post-war years has been a principal reason why the Austrian people have been able to sustain the burden of occupation and carry on the work of national recovery, despite the bitter disappointment occasioned by the prolonged delay in being accorded their independence. It has been a long wait, an unnecessarily long 421 wait; but it will soon be ended. I think it can be truly said—and I am sure it is recognised by the Austrian leaders and people—that this country, under successive Governments, has constantly sought to make its part in the Occupation as tolerable and light as possible. They have our warm friendship to-day, as they have had it in the past. We wish them well in their soon-to-be-recovered independence.

LORD REA
My Lords, I do not propose to detain your Lordships for long on this short enabling Bill, except to support what the noble Lord, Lord Henderson has said, and to assure the noble Marquess of the support that I am sure the Bill will receive from all quarters of this House. Several dates of significance to Austria have been mentioned. The noble Lord, Lord Henderson, mentioned two dates—twelve and fifteen years ago; but I cannot help feeling that in the minds of many of us there is a date forty years ago when, unfortunately, we lost the rather intimate and traditional friendship of a vivid, intelligent and romantic people. That this Bill should bring them back into the comity of nations as an "independent and democratic Austria" is a thing which I am sure, will be welcomed in every quarter.