COUNCIL of EUROPE CONSEIL DE L* EUROPE COMMITTEE of MINISTERS 40Th Session
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COUNCIL OF EUROPE CONSEIL DE L* EUROPE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS 40th Session Strasbourg, 19th May 196? Confidential CM (67) PV 1 MINUTES ol' 'olio r.ioofcin^ uold on 24th April 196?,.at the headquarters of the Council of Europe PRESENT ' . - CMPV004 AUSTRIA Mr. L. TQNCIC SORINJ BELGIUM Mr. P. HARMED, Chairman . CYPRUS Mr. S. KYPRIANOU DENMARK Mr.. P.. FISCHER (1) FRANCE Mr. A. BETTENCOURT (2) FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY Mr. G. JAHN (J>] GREECE • • 'Mr.'B, VITSAXIS (4) ICELAND 'IRELAND ' • Mr. F. AIKEN ./. (1) Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, replacing Mr. J.O. KRAG, Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs (2) Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, replacing Mr. COUVE de MURVILLE, Minister for Foreign Affairs. (3) Parliamentary Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,, replacing Mr. W. BRANDT, Minister for Foreign Affairs (4) Greek Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe, replacing Mr. ECONOMOU-GOURAS, Minister for Foreign Affairs 5978 02/1 CM (6?) PV 1 - 2 - ITALY Mr". "G. OLIVA (I) LUXEMBOURG Mr. P. GREGOIRE MALTA .- Mr. P. PULLICINO (?.} NETHERLANDS Mr. J. VIXSEBOXSE (3) NORWAY Mr. 0. MYRVOLL (4) SWEDEN ..Mr.. ,-G. LANGE (5) SWITZERLAND Mr. W. SPUHLER TURKEY • • Mr. N. DINg (6)' UNITED KINGDOM Mr. P.- MULLEY (?) ./.. (l) Under-Secretary of State1 for Foreign Affairs., replacing Mr, A. FANFANJ, Minister.-for Foreign Affairs (2) Maltese Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe, replacing Mr..G..BORG OLIVIER, Prime Minister and Minister for Commonwealth and Foreign Affairs (3) Netherlands Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe, replacing Mr. J.M.A.H, LUNS, Minister for ._ Foreign Affairs ' ' W Minister of Finance, replacing Mr. J. LYNG, Minister-for Foreign Affairs (5) •Minister of Trade, replacing Mr. T.-N-ILSSON,- Minister- - for Foreign Affairs (6) Turkish Permanent Representative to the Council of- Europe, r-eplacing Mr. I,S. CAGLAYANGIL, Minister for Foreign Affairs . .... (7) Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, replacing Mr. George BROWN, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs . ' . • - • ' ' - 3 - CM (6?) PV 1 Mr. P. SMITHERS Secretary General Mr, P. MODINOS Deputy Secretary General Mr. H. LELEU Political Director Mr. J. PRIESTMAN Secretary of the Committee of Ministers o o Mr. P. HARMEL, Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, opened the moe.ting at 9.20 a.m. THE CHAIRMAN said that, before starting with the Agenda, he wished to pay tribute to Chancellor Konrad ADENAUER, (The Ministers and Representatives rose), THE CHAIRMAN felt sure that in paying tribute to the memory of the great European .who had passed away, he was speaking for all members of the Committee. In critical bines, Konrad Adenauer had been an inspiration to peoples seeking the road back to freedom and democracy. Rejecting nationalism, the cause .of three fratricidal wars, he had chosen for his country the path of parliamentary democracy. Although an •advocate of the widest possible Europe, he had understood that the first task was to achieve a close unity among'the democratic countries. The best tribute they could pay to him was to continue his work and set themselves to build Europe with the same ardour he had brought to the task. (The Ministers and Representatives observed a minute's silence,! I. ADOPTION OP THE AGENDA The draft Agenda for the 4oth Session was adopted (Appendix I). ./. GM (67) TV 1 - 4 - II. WORK PROGRAMME THE CHAIRMAN recalled that at the 38th Session the Ministers had instructed the. Secretary General to report to them on the execution of the Programme and to examine such modifications as might be suggested by experience. THE SECRETARY GENERAL said that two years ago, when the Committee of Ministers had decided to draw up the Work Programme which had been put into operation last year, there had been certain general aims in view. The Programme was intended to relate the projects undertaken by the Council of Europe to definite objectives in the fields in which these projects were to take place and to the general aims of 'the- Council- itself. The principal object of the Programme was to organise the work of the Council so that Governments could obtain a view, and'thus control, of this work as a whole. In this way an, instrument would be placed in the hands of Governments for • using the Council more efficiently. The results of the first year of operation .of the Programme had been.to show that the expense of intergovernmental operations, which constituted of all Council of Europe activities, had not increased on the coming into operation of-'the Programme. On the contrary, improved working methods had been obtained without additional .. expensei • The mechanism of the Programme had worked quite well considering its experimental character, but a few problems had arisen. Firstly the Council operated on the intergovernmental side through some 60 expert committees. These committees had not in the past worked in accordance with a unified programme and they had had to get used to operating in accordance with such a programme as laid down by the Committee of Ministers. It had sometimes been difficult for the aims of the programme to be .properly .communicated to the. committees of experts. It. was hoped that Governments would see that their experts were •• fully aware of the need to conform to the directives of the Committee of Ministers, particularly with regard to the completion of the work on time. • Since the first Work Programme had been initiated last year there had been a considerable improvement in relations between the Committee of Ministers and the Assembly. - The ./. - 5 - CM (6?) PV 1 Assembly had become aware of the considerable work which Governments were, undertaking in the fields of European co- operation and unity. Also, sound parliamentary scrutiny of the work of the Council had now been established. The publication in book form of last year's Work Programme had been of great value. It had proved very useful in showing other international organisations the work the Council was doing. The booklet would be published again this year, with some changes to meet.the suggestions of the Assembly and of Governments, and would give an even clearer picture of the Council's work. Although the Work Programme had started as a Secretariat initiative, to which Governments had agreed, its object was to put an instrument into the hands of Governments, not those of the Secretariat itself. The next phase of the Programme was to introduce the . , technique of corporate management. If the mechanism was to be operated by Governments, rather than by the Secretary General, this was in keeping with the purpose of the Statute of the Council, which stressed that it was an intergovernmental organisation. He turned to consider the relationship with other countries and organisations. In a Europe moving towards closer unifica- tion, it was necessary for the Secretariat to have closer working partnerships with other organisations, especially the European Communities. In this it had only been partly successful. Joint meetings with the Commission's services, in Brussels had taken place and had made a modest but valuable contribution. However, now that the enlargement of the Communities was a possibility, it was even more important to get good co-ordination between the Council and the Communities. Whatever happened as a result o'f these political moves, the Council would have a part to play; and so he hoped that Governments would give even more help to the Council in the year ahead in its relations with the Communities. He thought he should mention that a close relationship had also been established with the EFTA Secretariat. Good working arrangements existed and the Secretariats, were in constant touch with each other. ./. CM (6?) PV 1 - 6 -" He turned to a subject which had been of considerable* interest to the' Committee in the past, and of which the Secretariat had recently made a study, namely overlapping and duplication-between the various international organisations. Governments had been asked to comment on the report that had been made, and their comments together with the report would, he hoped, be considered at the December meeting. There appeared to be a trend for all international organisation's to enlarge their competence. Thus OECD had . been moving into the field of education; UNESCO also proposed to embark on educational activities, specially in Europe; and both these moves overlapped with work being done'by the Council of Europe. It seemed also that ECE was likely to . • enalrge its competence. Before he retired in 22-months time, the Secretary General said that he would like to clarify'the mandate of this Organisation and others. He agreed with the statement made by U Thant that the work o"f all international organisations should now be re-examined, in the light of their Statutes. * • Ke hoped-that the Committee would encourage the Deputies, to continue their study along the lines of the paper submitted by the Secretariat. Using very modest resources, the Programme of VJork had tried to encourage progress on a governmental level. Any success achieved wan due, not to seeking headlines, but to trying to identify the problems of modern society in which international agreement was necessary and possible. They were building unity slowly but .surely from the foundations up. On •' . behalf of the Secretariat he asked .the Ministers for their continued support, and expressed his gratitude 'to the Ministers' Deputies. ' . THE CHAIRMAN thanked the Secretary Genera! for his statement and said'.that it was due to the Secretariat's initiative that there was a Programme of Work at all. Although the proposal had subsequently been approved by the two organs of the Council of Europe, it was incumbent on the Committee to pay tribute to .