Comité des Ministres des Affaires Étrangères

Date of Founding

Date of Abolition

Location

As a result of the efforts of Polish informal diplomat Joseph Retinger – who worked closely with Polish Prime Minister Wladyslaw Sikorski – a machinery for consultation between the exiled European governments was created over the summer and fall of 1942. From the beginning of their exile, the Polish government had reflected a desire to establish closer relations with both its Western and Eastern European counterparts. This had translated into several appeals for the post-war creation of Eastern and Central European federation – both as a bloc against German and Russian imperialism.

These efforts were supported by the British government. But when in 1941 the Soviet Union joined the war, the projects for political and military unifications that were motivated against potential Russian imperialism, were increasingly seen through the prism of the wartime interests of the Grand Alliance. As a result, the Poles – most notably Retinger – increasingly reached out to their Western counterparts in an effort to establish themselves as the leaders of the European exiles, and in order to secure Poland post-war position in the European order.

However, these efforts did not bear a lot of fruit in terms of concrete support for ideas of a European federation. However, the Poles did succeed in establishing an inter-Allied machinery between the exiled European governments in London. The first meeting of the Comité des Ministres des Affaires Étrangères des Gouvernements allies was at the end of October 1942. At these meetings (which took place every month to six weeks) the exiled Foreign Ministers discussed their shared post-war problems. In November 1942, for example, they tasked Paul van Zeeland to undertake a study into the possibility of setting up a study group for the creation of a post-war economic union.