ADÖ, Band 7

Volume 7 of the series "Außenpolitische Dokumente der Republik Österreich 1918-1938 (ADÖ)" [Documents on Austrian Foreign Policy] entitled "The Austro-German Customs Union Project. 11th February 1930 - 11th September 1931" deals with the Austrian foreign affairs and more than in the previous volumes with the economic policy during the period of the Great Depression. The three main topics of this volume are: The Austrian and the international reaction on the memorandum of the French Foreign Office, dated May 1, 1930. The response of the Ballhausplatz on this well-known project for a United States of Europe based on the ideas of the long term-French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand was - similar to the German - a reserved one. The hugest space in this volume is provided for the second issue, namely the Austro-German Customs Union Project. Whereas the governments in Vienna and Berlin emphasized the conformity with Briand`s Pan-European project the administrations in Paris and Prague reacted with strong opposition against this fait accompli as a danger to the European peace order. Briand and Benes stressed the violation of the established treaties of Saint-Germain and the Geneva Protocol. They expressed their concerns about a political Anschluss and a German plan for the conquest of Central Europe. The issue of the legality of the Austro-German agreement was internationally discussed at the 63rd session of the Council of the League of Nations in Geneva on May 18, 1931. As a result the Permanent Court of International Justice was asked for an advisory opinion. The crisis of the Credit-Anstalt, Austria`s largest bank facing bankruptcy, also the third main topic of this volume, urged the Viennese government to turn to the League of Nations for emergency help. The fact that France played the key role in the financial salvation of Austria made an end to all hopes for the bilateral project. On September 3, 1931, Austria`s vice chancellor Johann Schober and Germany`s Foreign Minister Julius Curtius renounced the customs union project at the meeting of the Commission of Enquiry for European Union. On September 5, 1931, the Court of The Hague declared - by a narrow 8:7 decision - that the customs union project violated the economic independence of Austria and therefore was incompatible to the Geneva Protocol No I of October 1922. The customs union project represented the vain attempt to circumvent economically the post war prohibition of the Anschluss.