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do more to explain their position, and to justify a policy of contact and dialogue with South Africa. Mr Brunner drew a parallel with the policy of detente and dialogue with the Soviet Union and
the countries of Eastern Europe.
UNESCO
17.
The PUS explained that HMG had taken no decision on British
membership: much would depend on the outcome of the Sofia meeting.
Mr Brunner said that the Swiss were also waiting to see how the
Sofia meeting turned out. He added that he had heard that Mr M' Bow
might be seeking a second term. The PUS said that we would let the
Swiss know how our thinking developed.
CERN
18.
In an inconclusive discussion of CERN, Mr Brunner and the Swiss
Ambassador stressed the value of the British contribution to CERN.
The PUS and Mr Rich spoke of the difficulty in channeling scarce
resources between different international cooperation ventures of
this kind.
Council of Europe
Few
19. Mr Brunner complained that, for understandable reasons, the
British attached only a low priority to the Council of Europe. He spoke, somewhat sorrowfully, of the decline of the role and status. of the Council of Europe. It operated successfully only at the level of human rights and culture, not at the political level.
Ministers, with the notable exceptions of Lady Young and M. Aubert, regularly attended meetings. One remedy would be to hold
Ministerial meetings in the capital of the Presidency.
worth examining the procedures of the Council of Europe.
It might be
20. In reply, the PUS expressed sympathy for the Swiss position
and spoke in favour of consultation in fora such as the Council of Europe on subjects such as terrorism and drugs trafficking.
21. In a somewhat emotional plea, the Swiss Ambassador spoke of
the feeling of exclusion felt by the European neutrals: their
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