AGREEMENT.
(BULGARIA.)
The duly authorised representatives of the Government of His Majesty the King of the Belgians, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Government of Canada, the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Government of New Zealand, the Government of the Union of South Africa, the Government of India, the Government of the Kingdom of Bulgaria, the Government of the French Republic, the Government of the Greek Republic, the Government of His Majesty the King of Italy, the Government of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, the Government of the Republic of Poland, the Government of the Republic of Portugal, the Government of His Majesty the King of Roumania, the Government of the Czechoslovak Republic and the Gouvernment of His Majesty the King Jugoslavia.
Have reached the following agreement:
(I) The Creditor Powers waive their right to Tranche B of the Bulgarian reparation debt as defined by the Protocol of 21st March, 1923. Furthermore, Great Britain, France and Italy waive their claim to payment of the outstanding balance in respect of armies of occupation;
(2) The Creditor Powers accept in full arid complete satisfaction of the total amount of Tranche A of the Bulgarian reparation debt which remains unpaid at this date the annuities expressed in gold francs fixed in the following Schedule of Payments, the gold franc as defined by article 146 of the Treaty of Neuilly.
Number of Annuities in Gold Francs.
Ist April, 1930: 5 millions.
Ist April, 1930, to
3Ist March, 1940: to annuities of 10,000,000 Ist April, 1950, to
3Ist March, 1950: to annuities of 11,500,000 Ist April, 1950, to
3Ist March, 1966: 16 annuities of 12,515,238
The first payment provided for 1st April, 1930, shall be made in full at that date. Subsequent annuities shall be payable in two equal half-yearly instalments on 30th September and 31st March of each year, the first instalment falling due on 30th September, 1930, and the last on 31st March, 1966.
(3) The annuities fixed in Article 2 shall constitute an unconditional obligation and the parties signatory to the present agreement waive their right to demand the application of Article 122 of the Treaty of Neuilly. Bulgaria may, however, if the need arises request the application of the system of postponement of transfer instituted by the Reparation Commissions decision of 23rd July, 1926, pursuant to the Financial Scheme approved on 10th June, 1926, by the Council of the League of Nations.
These annuities shall enjoy the benefit of the same special securities as are assigned to the annuities of the Schedule of Payments of 21st March, 1923, by virtue of the Protocols of 21st March, 1923 and 24th September, 1928. They shall be represented by a debt certificate, with coupons attached, which shall be handed over by the Bulgarian Government to the Bank for International Settlements acting as trustee for the Creditor Powers.
The first charge established by Article 132 of the Treaty of Neuilly upon all the assets and revenues of Bulgaria for the cost of reparation and other costs referred to in that Article shall cease to have effect. But if the product of the special securities falls below 150% of the sums necessary for the service of the annuity, the Bulgarian Government undertakes at the request of the Bank for International Settlements, to assign to reparations additional securities which shall be considered acceptable by the said Bank and shall at least restore the said percentage, and to promulgate any laws necessary for this purpose.
(4.) The National Bank of Bulgaria shall retain its present functions and obligations in regard to the payment of reparations arising out of the Regulations of 7th July, 1923 regarding the application of the Protocol of 21st March, 1923, and shall comply with those Regulations in regard to the collection of the proceeds from the securities, the constitution in national currency of the annuity funds and their conversion into foreign currencies.
(5) The rights and powers conferred on the Reparation Commission and on the Interallied Commission in Bulgaria shall, in so far as is necessary, be transferred to the Bank for International Settlements.
Consequently, the relations between the Reparation Commission and the Interallied Commission in Bulgaria, of the one part, and the Bulgarian Government, of the other part, shall terminate as soon as possible. The conditions and the date of this transfer shall be determined by a Committee consisting of two representatives of the Bulgarian Government, of four representatives of the Reparation Commission, or of the Interallied Commission in Bulgaria, (one of whom shall be the common delegate on the Reparation Commission or a representative appointed by him), and, if possible, of two representatives of the Bank for International Settlements.
(6) Further, and in addition to the payments fixed by Article a, the Bulgarian Government shall remain responsible for all its obligations to the nationals of the Creditor Powers whose rights as now existing are in no way affected by the present Agreement.
The Creditor Governments who have not yet adhered to the contract of 14th April, 1923, relating to a moratorium granted to the Bulgarian Government by the French and Belgian Creditors, to the rider of 10th October, 1923, to the said contract and to the Agreement of 14th April, 1923, relating to the issue of Bulgarian 6 1/2% State Bonds, 1923, may adhere thereto up to 30th June, 1930, and the Bulgarian Government undertakes to accept such adhesions and to give full effect thereto.
(7) As from the date of the coming into force of the present Agreement, the Creditor Governments waive their right to retain and liquidate the property, rights and interests of Bulgarian nationals, in so far as such property is not yet liquid or liquidated or has not been disposed of finally. Nevertheless, Bulgarian property subject to liquidation in Roumania has formed the subject of an agreement on the basis of a payment of 110 million lei to be made to Roumania in two equal instalments, the first of which shall be payable three months after ratification, and the second within a year. This agreement forms an integral part of the present Agreement.
(8) Bulgaria undertakes to conclude within six months of the coming into force of the present Agreement the arrangements necessary to ensure the regular service of the quota of the Ottoman Debt for which she is liable and to meet without delay the obligations devolving upon her as a result of the said arrangements.
(9) With the exception of claims which have been the subject of a previous special agreement or of a convention concluded in pursuance of the Treaty of Neuilly and also of claims arising under Article 141 of that Treaty, all claims of the Bulgarian Government against the Creditor Powers or their nationals and also all claims of Bulgarian nationals against the Creditor Powers based on the provisions of the Treaty of Neuilly are completely cancelled by the present Agreement.
(10) No private claims of nationals of the Creditor Powers, which under the Treaty of Neuilly should be settled either by the intervention of the Clearing Office or by the Mixed Arbitral Tribunals and which have not been regularly laid before those bodies before the coming into force of the present agreement, shall be received by them.
(11) The claims of Bulgaria against Germany referred to in Article 145 of the Treaty of Neuilly and any claims of Germany against Bulgaria referred to in Article 261 of the Treaty of Versailles have been cancelled by the Agreement with Germany of even date concluded at The Hague Conference. Bulgaria takes note of and accepts this cancellation.
Equally any claim of Bulgaria against Austria or Hungary referred to in the said Article 145 of the Treaty of Neuilly and any claim of Austria or Hungary against Bulgaria respectively referred to in Article 2 z 3 of the Treaty of St. Germain and Article 196 of the Treaty of Trianon are cancelled; any securities or documents relating to these claims shall be destroyed.
(12) Nothing in the present Agreement shall modify the rights which the Société des Porteurs de Créances Civiles en Bulgarie derives from the contract entered into with the National Bank of Bulgaria on 30th May, 1923. The Creditor Governments which have not yet adhered to the said contract may adhere thereto up to 30th June, 1930.
(13) Should the Bank for International Settlements not accept the whole of the functions attributed to it by the present Agreement, the appointment of some other trustee to be substituted so far as necessary for the Bank, will form part of the task of the Committee constituted under Article 5.
(14) Any dispute between the Contracting Parties as to the interpretation or application of the present Agreement shall be submitted for final decision to the Tribunal referred to in The Hague Agreement with Germany of January, 1930 in accordance with the procedure established in that Agreement. Provided always that on the occasion of any such dispute the place of the Member of the Tribunal appointed by the German Government will be taken by a Member appointed by the Bulgarian Government.
FINAL CLAUSE.
The present Agreement, of which the French and English texts are both authentic, shall be ratified.
The deposit of ratifications shall be made at Paris as soon as possible.
The Powers of which the seat of government is outside Europe will be entitled to inform the Government of the French Republic through their diplomatic representative at Paris that their ratification has been given; in that case they must transmit the instrument of ratification as soon as possible.
A first proces-verbal of the deposit of ratifications will be drawn up as soon as the Agreement has been ratified by Bulgaria on the one hand and on the other hand four of the following Governments, that is to say, Belgium, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan, and three of the following Governments, that is to say, Greece, Poland, Portugal, Roumania, Czechoslovakia and Jugoslavia.
The present Agreement will come into force, between the Contracting Parties who have thus ratified, from and after the date of the first proces-verbal.
Save as above provided the Agreement will come into force for each Signatory Government at the date of notification or of the deposit of its ratification.
The French Government will transmit to all the Signatory Governments a certified copy of the proces-verbaux of the deposit of ratifications.
Done at The Hague in a single copy the 20th January, 1930.
HENRI JASPAR.
PAUL HYMANS.
E. FRANCQUI.
PHILIP SNOWDEN.
PETER LARKIN.
GRANVILLE RYRIE.
E. TOMS.
PHILIP SNOWDEN.
PHILIP SNOWDEN.
A. D. BOUROFF.
VL. MOLLOFF.
HENRI CHÉRON.
LOUCHEUR.
N. POLITIS.
J. G. POLITIS.
A. MOSCONI.
A. PIRELLI.
SUVICH.
ADATCI.
K. HIROTA.
J. MROZOWSKI.
R. ULRICH.
TOMAZ FERNANDES.
G. G. MIRONESCO.
N. TITULESCO.
J. LUGOSIANO.
AL. ZEUCEANO.
Dr. EDUARD BENEŠ.
STEFAN OSUSKÝ.
Dr. V. MARINKOVITCH.
CONST. FOTITCH.
DECLARATION
BY THE CREDITOR GOVERNMENTS ATTACHED TO THE AGREEMENT WITH BULGARIA.
The Creditor Governments have taken note of the Bulgarian Government's request to benefit by a remission of a portion of its debt in the event of the Creditor Governments themselves obtaining remission of the interallied debts. They state their readiness collectively, if necessary, to consider favourably the possibility of allowing Bulgaria to have the benefit of advantages proportional to those which the Special Memorandum of the Experts of the Principal Creditor Powers and Germany concerning out-payments, appended to the Experts Report of June 7th, 1929, grants to Germany, without, howerer, any Power having its share in Bulgarian annuities reduced by more than 50 per cent. as a result of this possible reconsideration.
CONFERENCE OF THE HAGUE, 1930.
The Bulgarian Government hereby undertakes to pay a sum of $ 8,000 towards the expenses of the liquidation of the Interallied Commission, in addition to all monthly payments for which it is liable apart from this undertaking.
A. D. BOUROFF.
VL. MOLLOFF.