Düsseldorf Agreement (1939)
The Düsseldorf Agreement was a twelve-point declaration of March 16, 1939 by the British Federation of British Industries (FBI) and the German Reichsgruppe Industrie for closer cooperation between British and German industry.
prehistory
The agreement was preceded by the agreements between the industries of the two countries in the International Steel Cartel and in the International Coke Convention of 1937 . The decision for a meeting of the leading industrial associations was made on November 9, 1938, at a meeting of representatives of the Board of Trade and the FBI with a German business delegation as well as representatives of the Reichsbank , the Foreign Office and the Reich Ministry of Economics in London . On December 21 and 22, 1938, preliminary meetings were held in London, followed by more. At these meetings, agreements were reached on an Anglo-German coal cartel and on the establishment of further cartels.
On February 21, 1939, the Times published an editorial entitled "Peace Through Trade," which stated that the purpose of the reviews was to avoid a trade war. At an FBI meeting on the eve of the UK delegation's departure, Walter Runciman said:
"Gentlemen, the peace of Europe is in your hands."
The agreement
The main conference took place on March 15 and 16, 1939 in Düsseldorf . Several dozen representatives agreed on the goal of eliminating "market-destroying competition" and "unhealthy competition" between the industries of the two countries. For this purpose, regulations on price issues and questions on the division of markets have been fixed, so that one can speak of a cartel .
On the same day, the invasion of the rest of the Czech Republic took place. As the governments of both countries became increasingly hostile, efforts fizzled out. There was no longer an invitation to the meeting of the joint committee.
literature
- Walther Hofer , Herbert R. Reginbogin: Hitler, the West and Switzerland . Zurich 2001, pp. 466–472.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Walther Hofer, Herbert R. Reginbogin: Hitler, the West and Switzerland . Zurich 2001, p. 469.