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CONFIDENTIAL

C.P. (51) 105

16th April, 1951

Printed for the Cabinet. April 1951

CABINET

Copy No. 31

COUNCIL OF EUROPE

MEMORANDUM BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The purpose of this paper is to describe the position which has now been reached in connection with the revision of the Statute of the Council of Europe and to obtain the approval of my colleagues for a concession which the United Kingdom Representative might make when the question is discussed at the forth- coming meeting of the Committee of Ministers, which will be held in Strasbourg from 2nd-5th May.

2. The revision of the Statute of the Council of Europe was discussed at the last meeting of the Committee of Ministers (which took place in Paris on 16th and 17th March) on the basis of a report prepared by a Committee of Government officials (see Annex to C.P. (51) 72). The Ministers approved Chapters I and II of this report, but did not have sufficient time to deal with Chapter III, which contains the proposed amendments to the Statute on which the officials were unable to reach agreement. These controversial amendments will be discussed at the forthcoming meeting of the Committee of Ministers, when final decisions will probably be taken on the revision of the Statute.

3. The situation has been complicated by the observations made by the General Affairs Committee of the Assembly on the officials' report, which was referred to the Assembly for comments. This Committee expressed dissatisfaction with the report, which, in the Committee's view, did not go far enough towards meeting the views of the Assembly. The Committee stated that, in the circum- stances, it could not recommend parliaments to approve the ratification of a Protocol which contained only those amendments on which the officials had reached agreement.

4. These comments have dismayed some of the other member Governments -notably the French and the Italian-who are very susceptible to parliamentary pressure where Council of Europe questions are concerned. They feel that, if the revision of the Statute becomes à bone of contention between the Government and the parties of the majority, it may well prove one of many complex factors leading to a political crisis. Although a meeting of the Joint Committee will be held on 16th April for an exchange of views between representatives of the Committee of Ministers and the Assembly on the revision of the Statute, it is unlikely that this will do much to improve relations between the two organs of the Council. Thus, at the next meeting of the Committee of Ministers, we shall be under considerable pressure to make concessions on the controversial amendments, on many of which we are in a minority of one.

5. I have therefore been looking carefully into Chapter III of the officials' report to see if there is, in fact, some point on which we could make a concession, which would not be inconsistent with our policy on the revision of the Statute set out in paragraph 5 of C.P. (51) 72. The object of such a concession would be to show other member Governments that we are not entirely obstructive where the Council of Europe is concerned and to ease the task of our representative in obtaining the rejection of the more obnoxious amendments in accordance with the policy set out in C.P. (51) 72, and approved by the Cabinet on 12th March (C.M. (51), 19th Conclusions, Minute 5). (C.M. (51)pate 294 of 587

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