COUNCIL + R CONSEIL of EUROPE *** DE L'europe COMMITTEE of MINISTERS
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
*** * * COUNCIL *+ r* CONSEIL OF EUROPE *** DE L'EUROPE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS CONFIDENTIAL CMPV226 MINUTES OF THE 74th SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS HELD ON 10 MAY 1984 STRASBOURG CONFIDENTIAL - i - MINUTES OF THE 74TH SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS Strasbourg, Thursday 10 May 1984 Page Morning sitting (CM(84)PV 1) 1 Afternoon sitting (CM(84)PV 2) 41 Appendix I : Agenda of the Session 63 Appendix II : Final communique 64 1.015 02.2 CONFIDENTIAL - 1 - CM(84)PV 1 MINUTES of the sitting held on 10 May 1984 at 9.40 am at the Palais de I1Europe, STRASBOURG PRESENTS AUSTRIA Mr. E. LANC BELGIUM Mr. A. VRANKEN (1) CYPRUS Mr. C. VENIAMIN (2) DENMARK Mr. U. ELLEMANN-JENSEN, Chairman FRANCE Mr. R. DUMAS FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY Mr. J.W. MOLLEMANN (3) GREECE Mr. N. DIAMANTOPOULOS (4) ICELAND Mr. G. HALLGRIMSSON (1) Permanent Representative of Belgium, in place of Mr. L. TINDEMANS, Minister for External Relations. (2) Minister for the Interior, in place of Mr. G. IACOVOU, Minister for Foreign Affairs. (3) Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, in place of Mr. H.D. GENSCHER, Minister for Foreign Affairs. (4) Permanent Representative of Greece, in place of Mr. I. HARALAMBOPOULOS, Minister for Foreign Affairs, CONFIDENTIAL CM(84)PV 1 - 2 - IRELAND Mr. J. O'KEEFFE (1) ITALY Mrs. S. AGNELLI (2) LIECHTENSTEIN HSH Prince Nicolas of Liechtenstein (3) LUXEMBOURG Mr. P. HELMINGER (4) MALTA Apologised for absence NETHERLANDS Mr. H. VAN DEN BROEK NORWAY Mr. E. WINSNES (5) PORTUGAL Mr. J. GAMA SPAIN Mr. F. BAEZA (6) SWEDEN Mr. L. BODSTROM SWITZERLAND Mr. P. AUBERT TURKEY Mr. V. HALEFOGLU UNITED KINGDOM Mr. R. WHITNEY (7) (1) Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, in place of Mr. P. BARRY, Minister for Foreign Affairs. (2) State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, in place of Mr. G. ANDREOTTI, Minister for Foreign Affairs. (3) Permanent Representative of Liechtenstein, in place of Mr. H. BRUNHART, Head of Government, (4) State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, in place of Mrs. C. FLESCH, Minister for Foreign Affairs. (5) Permanent Representative of Norway, in place of Mr. S. STRAY, Minister for Foreign Affairs. (6) Permanent Representative of Spain, in place of Mr. F. MORAN, Minister for Foreign Affairs. (7) Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, in place of Sir Geoffrey HOWE, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. CONFIDENTIAL - 3 - CM(84)PV 1 Mr. F. KARASEK Secretary General Mr. G. ADINOLFI Deputy Secretary General Mr. H. LELEU Director of Political Affairs Mr. H.P. FURRER Secretary to the Committee of Ministers Mr. U. ELLEMANN-JENSEN, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Denmark, took the Chair at 9.40 am. CONFIDENTIAL CM(84)PV 1 - 4 - The CHAIRMAN declared the 74th Session of the Committee of Ministers open. He welcomed colleagues, especially those who were attending for the first time, namely: Mr. R. Dumas Minister for European Affairs of France Mr. G. Hallgrimsson Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland Mrs. S. Agnelli State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Italy Mr. V. Halefoglu Minister for Foreign Affairs of Turkey Mr. R. Whitney Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, United Kingdom He had received the apologies of the Maltese Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Sciberas Trigona, who would not be participating today as there was parliamentary voting in Malta. The CHAIRMAN informed the Committee that the morning session should close at about 12.45 pm that luncheon would take place at 1.15 pm; that the afternoon sitting would resume at 3.15 pm and end at about 6.15 pm. 1. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA The CHAIRMAN moved the adoption of the provisional agenda (CM(84)OJ 1). One item had been included under 'Other Business', namely the statement to be made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Turkey. He ascertained that no other delegation would like to put any other item on the agenda. The agenda was then adopted, as it appears at Appendix I below. The CHAIRMAN then moved to the order of business referring to document CM(84)108 which outlined the way in which discussion of items on the agenda should be conducted. He invited comments. Mr. KNITEL (Austria) asked for item 4 to be dealt with during the morning sitting. Mr. HALEFOGLU (Turkey) proposed that his statement under item 7a should be given during the morning session. The CHAIRMAN agreed to the two foregoing proposals. The CHAIRMAN reminded the Committee that at about 12.45 pm he would give a short press briefing and at 4.30 pm a press conference would be held. CONFIDENTIAL - 5 - CM(84)PV 1 2. PROGRESS OF EUROPEAN CO-OPERATION The CHAIRMAN recalled that this was a traditional item on the agenda of the Committee of Ministers which allowed the Committee to take stock of recent developments both in the Council of Europe and elsewhere and particularly within the European Communities and EFTA. Written reports had been submitted by the Minister for External Relations of France in his capacity as President of the Council of the European Communities, the Foreign Minister of Sweden on behalf of the EFTA Council, and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. Mr. DUMAS (France) made the following statement: "As is customary, I shall present the report in my capacity as President-in-Office of the Council of the European Communities, but since I am the first speaker, I should like to take the opportunity of first congratulating the Secretary General and paying him warm tribute. I am sure I speak for the entire assembly when I say that his presence has given a powerful impetus to the development of activities in the Council of Europe. Under his leadership, an important political dialogue among the 21 members has been set up; he has intensified contacts with other democracies and initiated successful co-operation among local authorities, promoting areas in wliich the Council of Europe is particularly active: the defence of human rights, encouragement for cultural exchanges and harmonisation of legislation. He has accomplished all this being possessed, as we know, of an outstanding spirit of initiative, open-mindedness, sense of co-ordination, combined with a most engaging disposition. He has confided in me his intention of devoting himself to the study of Roman law, which will be a new source of satisfaction for him - unless it is a return to his original interests. I am sure that his readings in Justinian and Grotius will have the effect of a fountain of youth, and he will be living proof that after a life of action, a man can return to meditation and reflection. I was anxious to greet him on behalf of all of you before presenting the report. Mr. Chairman, I must now summarise the activities of the European Community since our last Session. They focus primarily on the outcome of the Brussels Summit Conference. Allow me to make two remarks at the outset. The activities of the Community have been conducted in an unfortunate setting that has left its mark on all the member States: I am talking about the austerity policy. This has led to a whole range of difficulties, which account for the disappointing results of the Athens Summit and the partial success in Brussels. Today these difficulties may well increase, because the Community membership will fairly soon be swelled from 10 to 12. France, which as you know has held the Presidency since 1 January 1984 and will continue to do so until 1 July of this year, has tried to find global solutions to each of the Community's problems. CONFIDENTIAL CM(84)PV 1 - 6 - Of the 18 files referred to it, 17 were closed at the Brussels Summit. Only one will come up again at the Fontainebleau Summit, no solution having yet been found, that is the problem of rectifying budgetary imbalances. The results of the other 17, which presented considerable difficulties, warrant special mention. I cite as a reminder the agricultural sector, on which I shall have more to say in a moment, new resources, integrated Mediterranean programmes and research programmes in technology and biochemistry, in other words a series of apparently insoluble problems which were successfully settled thanks to the determination of all delegations. I have mentioned that the most sensitive problem was that of the common agricultural policy. Nevertheless, the Brussels Summit reached a settlement on the serious difficulties concerning agricultural prices, monetary compensatory amounts and surplus problems. The specialised councils that followed the Brussels Summit enabled the decisions taken there to be confirmed, so that 69 regulations were unanimously passed by the Council of Ministers of Agriculture. Here again, the Summit paved the way for examination of problems of the future that might obstruct Community life, in particular existing surpluses or the prospect of surpluses in wine and olive oil. An acceptable solution to the problem of own resources has been found as it was decided at the Summit to increase value added tax from the present level of 1% to 1.4% and later 1.6%. It was also decided to set up integrated Mediterranean programmes which until then had been simply a pious wish. Lastly, I think it is essential to mention that the Summit marked the definitive run-up towards enlargement, with 1 September of this year set as the date for the end of negotiations with Spain and Portugal, accession being scheduled for 1 January 1986. So much for concrete results. The Brussels Summit also set the stage for the Community's future. It blazed the trail for Europe in the 21st century with the development of the research sector and by working on the assumption of a consolidation and unification of the domestic market.