The Pact of Non-Aggression and Arbitration between the Hellenic Republic and the Kingdom of Roumania was signed at Geneva on 21 March 1928 by foreign ministers Andreas Michalakopoulos and Nicolae Titulescu, on the margins of a League of Nations session. Done in duplicate. Registered in the League of Nations Treaty Series, volume 108. It is not a military alliance and does not place Greece inside the Little Entente.

Article 1: the Parties undertake not to attack each other, invade each other’s territories or resort to war against each other. Exceptions, at the level of principle: self-defence; action under Article 16 of the Covenant of the League of Nations; and action by reason of a decision of the Assembly or the Council, or under Article 15(7) of the Covenant, provided that in that last case the action is directed against a State which was the first to attack. Article 2: a claimed infraction shall be brought immediately before the Council. Article 25: the Pact does not restrict the League’s duty to safeguard peace. This is not an operations handbook.

Article 3: disputes not settled by ordinary diplomacy shall go to conciliation, judicial procedure or arbitration, except disputes connected with prior events, private claims decided by national courts, questions solely within domestic jurisdiction, and disputes relating to territorial status or vital interests. Article 5: disputes of a purely legal nature go to the Permanent Court of International Justice unless the Parties agree on an arbitral tribunal; qualification may be referred to the Council. Articles 6–8: a special agreement, or, after three months’ notice, a direct application to the Court; awards to be executed in good faith.

Articles 10–24: obligatory conciliation for disputes that are not purely legal; a permanent three-member commission, a president of another nationality, a report within four months that is not an award; if the proposals are not accepted, the question may go to the Council under Article 15 of the Covenant. Article 26: ratification and exchange of instruments as soon as possible; entry into force upon exchange; ten years, then tacit renewal for five-year periods unless denounced six months before expiry.

The Pact opened Greece’s series of bilateral political agreements after Lausanne; the Greco-Italian treaty of 23 September 1928 and the 1931 trade and shipping agreement are later, distinct instruments. The 1927 railway talks are not among the 26 articles.

Cover: Palais Wilson in Geneva, the League of Nations headquarters in the 1920s; LNTS records only Geneva, not the hall. Wikimedia Commons, free licence.

Sources consulted: Greek–Romanian Non-Aggression and Arbitration Pact; Pact of Non-Aggression and Arbitration between the Hellenic Republic and the Kingdom of Roumania.