CAB129-45 — Page 189

Page 189

Printed for the Cabinet

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SWEDISH PROPOSAL FOR THE AMALGAMATION OF THE ORGANI- SATION FOR EUROPEAN ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION (O.E.E.C.) AND THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE

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MEMORANDUM BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Two months ago the Swedish Government circulated a memorandum in the O.E.E.C. suggesting that the Convention establishing it should be revised so as to make possible the creation in the near future of a new organisation into which the O.E.E.C. and the Council of Europe would be assimilated. They proposed that an ad hoc committee should be entrusted with the task of "studying the ways in which a development towards the ends indicated in their memorandum might best be promoted."

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2. The Swedish proposal was considered at the last meeting of the Ministerial Council of the O.E.E.C. Although there was strong pressure for an ad hoc committee to be set up at once, the Council, as a result of a negative attitude on the part of the United Kingdom, decided that Governments should have further time to consider the question and that it should be discussed at an informal meeting of Ministers at the time of the next meeting of the Council. I myself will be repre- senting His Majesty's Government at this meeting, which takes place on 27th April. The discussion will deal both with the merits of the Swedish proposals and also with the advisability of setting up a committee to examine them further. These two questions are examined below.

3. The Swedish Government would also like their representative on the Council to pass through London on his way to Paris for a preliminary discussion with us. We have agreed to this.

The Merits of the Swedish Proposal

4. The O.E.E.C. is a valuable instrument for working out practical measures of inter-governmental co-operation. Though its importance may diminish with the development of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (N.A.T.O.) and the termination of Marshall aid, its work is still sufficiently important for us not to wish it to be compromised by any constitutional change.

5.

The Council of Europe, on the other hand, is a consultative organisation designed as a forum for the expression of European opinion, and should so remain, at any rate for some time to come. Its constitution is centred on the Consultative Assembly which has shown itself to be an irresponsible body. It is quite unadapted to the task of working out practical measures of economic co-operation.

6. It would not be possible to devise a new organisation which could effectively perform these separate functions of the two existing organisations. The impossi- bility of debarring the Consultative Assembly from interfering with whatever practical work was committed to the proposed new organisation is a conclusive argument against showing any favour for the time being to the Swedish Govern- ment's proposal.8Tofde8 would endanger the valuable and substantial degree of European economic co-operation laboriously achieved in the O.E.E.C.

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