SECRET
C.P. (49) 200
10th October, 1949
Printed for the Cabinet. October 1949
Page 638
314
31
CABINET
THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE
MEMORANDUM BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
I circulate to my colleagues herewith (see Annex) a factual report on the work of the Council of Europe at its recent Session in Strasbourg from 8th August to 8th September, to which is appended (Appendix A) the text of the letter which the President of the Consultative Assembly has addressed to the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers transmitting the recommendations and resolutions approved by the Assembly.
2.
These recommendations and resolutions of the Assembly are summarised in the Annex as follows:-
Economic Questions
General Affairs
Cultural and Scientific Questions
Social Questions
Procedural Questions
Human Rights
European Patent Office
Refugees
Paragraph
38
41
44
47
49-50
52
55
57
59
Nationality Laws and European Passport
**
3. These summaries are followed, in paragraphs 63 to 66, by two general observations concerning the recommendations and resolutions and by an outline of the provisions of the Statute under which the Committee of Ministers will have to consider them. Finally, in paragraphs 67-73 will be found a general commen- tary on the result of this meeting of the Council as a whole.
4. The present paper does not make any recommendations as to the attitude which His Majesty's Government should adopt towards the various proposals, or as to the line which I should take at the meeting of the Committee of Ministers in November. The following comments may, however, be of use to my colleagues in considering the report.
5. In the opening debate in the Assembly on the political structure of Europe several speakers gave expression to very far-reaching ideas, such, for instance, as the federal solution for Europe, the creation of a European political authority, the endowment of the Committee of Ministers with supranational powers, and the creation of a European Civil Service. These ideas were referred to the General Affairs Committee of the Assembly, and have therefore figured in the report of that Committee and in the resolutions of the Assembly summarised in paragraph 41 of the attached report. It should be noted, however, that these resolutions do not do more than recommend that the General Affairs Committee or the Standing Committee of the Assembly should study these matters and report on their implications. The ideas themselves have not in any way been formally endorsed by the Assembly, and the Committee of Ministers will not be called upon to take action on them in November. By the time the Committees have completed their studies and made their report in April 1950, it is quite likely that the less practical proposals will have been eliminated. The Assembly will then have to make its Peromgegdafig for the later consideration of phagommitte662f
Ministers.
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2
Bagd6300f66w the recommendations and Paola bous, ofthough greatly improved by the efforts of the Labour members of the British Delegation, still lay themselves open to severe criticism. In particular, they show an excessive readiness to endorse superficially attractive proposals, paying too little heed to the practical implications. They often fail to take into sufficient account the work of other existing international bodies both on the governmental and on the non-governmental plane. Moreover, it is evident that the general mood of the Assembly was one of far greater readiness to embark on some definite scheme for a unified Europe in the near future than is likely to appeal to Governments or to find justification in the Statute itself. The point is well summed up by the statement in one of the resolutions of the Assembly that it "considers that the aim and goal of the Council of Europe is the creation of a European political authority with limited functions but real powers." This compares with the very different phraseology of Article 1 (A) of the Statute of the Council of Europe, which states: "The aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve a greater unity between its members for the purpose of safeguarding and realising the ideals and principles which are their common heritage and facilitating their economic and social progress."
7. It is clear, therefore, that the various resolutions of the Assembly require the most careful study, and I propose in a subsequent paper to set forth my considered views as to the attitude we should adopt in regard to them at the next meeting of the Committee of Ministers. Great care will clearly have to be taken to see to it that none of the Assembly proposals that we may agree to would affect unfavourably decisions taken elsewhere and notably during the tripartite conversations in Washington; and we must also beware lest the Assembly should be used as a means of putting political pressure on us in such organisations as the O.E.E.C.
8. The Lord President of the Council, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and the Chief Whip agree generally with this paper and the annexed report.
Foreign Office, S. W. 1,
10th October, 1949.