Page 118 - Mellinato, Giulio, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2022. Complex Gateways. Labour and Urban History of Maritime Port Cities: The Northern Adriaticin a Comparative Perspective. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
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plex Gateways
time fate of the Territory of Trieste, and therefore to its identity as a port
city.
Table 6.3: Financing of Trieste’s Economic Recovery Program 1948–52.12
Recapitulation Investment Program by Category (Lire)
51,000,000,000
A. Shipbuilding
9,000,000,000
B. Industrial Reconstruction and Modern-
ization 1,560,000,000
900,000,000
C. Fisheries and Fish Canning
2,100,000,000
D. Tourist Facilities 1,900,000,000
E. Housing 985,000,000
1,250,000,000
F. Port and Industrial Zone Development 4,600,000,000
73,295,000,000
G. Rehabilitation of Public Utilities
H. Agricultural Development
I. Petroleum Refining
Total
From the end of 1947 onwards, the US and UK Governments began
to think about the future of Trieste on a longer-term perspective,13 well
beyond the simple management of the post-war emergency, and we can
detect some strategic lines.14 Particularly, the most important aim in the
economic field was the building of a system of self-supporting economy.
The governors of the new state-like entity (the Free Territory of Trieste)
wanted to create firm conditions for independency from Italy but also
from Yugoslavia. The project elaborated inside the AMG was direct-
ed in the first place at reaching a situation of a self-supporting econo-
12 NARA, RG 469, Mission to Italy, Office of the Director, Subject Files, Meeting Erp
Coordination and Progress (copy in IRSLM, b. 76, f. RG 469), Commander and Mil-
itary Governor’s Erp Coordination and Progress Meeting. Minutes of Meeting No.
5, 8 July 1949, pag. 2.
13 ‘In relation to the present economic emergency in Europe. the logical consequence
of the present state of the world is that measures of assistance envisaged by this
Government should be consciously limited to Western Europe, based on the con-
cept of the economic unity of Europe west of the Stettin-Trieste line.’ (From a US
Department of State Memorandum, 30 August 1947, in Holm 2017, 157–8.
14 The constitution of the Free Territory of Trieste can be considered as a clarification
of the actual tasks of the AMG itself. The Chief officer for economics (the British
lt. col. Birkensteth) was told that ‘It was in British political and economic interests
that Trieste should become a going concern. It was on the borderline between the
Western Powers and the Soviet sphere of influence, and we should therefore make
every effort to see that it functioned smoothly.’ Public Record Office, Foreign Of-
fice 371, 67467, R-12356, Minutes of a Meeting held in Room 25 Foreign Office on
Wednesday 3rd September [1947], on the Economic Future of Trieste.
118
time fate of the Territory of Trieste, and therefore to its identity as a port
city.
Table 6.3: Financing of Trieste’s Economic Recovery Program 1948–52.12
Recapitulation Investment Program by Category (Lire)
51,000,000,000
A. Shipbuilding
9,000,000,000
B. Industrial Reconstruction and Modern-
ization 1,560,000,000
900,000,000
C. Fisheries and Fish Canning
2,100,000,000
D. Tourist Facilities 1,900,000,000
E. Housing 985,000,000
1,250,000,000
F. Port and Industrial Zone Development 4,600,000,000
73,295,000,000
G. Rehabilitation of Public Utilities
H. Agricultural Development
I. Petroleum Refining
Total
From the end of 1947 onwards, the US and UK Governments began
to think about the future of Trieste on a longer-term perspective,13 well
beyond the simple management of the post-war emergency, and we can
detect some strategic lines.14 Particularly, the most important aim in the
economic field was the building of a system of self-supporting economy.
The governors of the new state-like entity (the Free Territory of Trieste)
wanted to create firm conditions for independency from Italy but also
from Yugoslavia. The project elaborated inside the AMG was direct-
ed in the first place at reaching a situation of a self-supporting econo-
12 NARA, RG 469, Mission to Italy, Office of the Director, Subject Files, Meeting Erp
Coordination and Progress (copy in IRSLM, b. 76, f. RG 469), Commander and Mil-
itary Governor’s Erp Coordination and Progress Meeting. Minutes of Meeting No.
5, 8 July 1949, pag. 2.
13 ‘In relation to the present economic emergency in Europe. the logical consequence
of the present state of the world is that measures of assistance envisaged by this
Government should be consciously limited to Western Europe, based on the con-
cept of the economic unity of Europe west of the Stettin-Trieste line.’ (From a US
Department of State Memorandum, 30 August 1947, in Holm 2017, 157–8.
14 The constitution of the Free Territory of Trieste can be considered as a clarification
of the actual tasks of the AMG itself. The Chief officer for economics (the British
lt. col. Birkensteth) was told that ‘It was in British political and economic interests
that Trieste should become a going concern. It was on the borderline between the
Western Powers and the Soviet sphere of influence, and we should therefore make
every effort to see that it functioned smoothly.’ Public Record Office, Foreign Of-
fice 371, 67467, R-12356, Minutes of a Meeting held in Room 25 Foreign Office on
Wednesday 3rd September [1947], on the Economic Future of Trieste.
118
