COUNCIL OF EUROPE I. CONSEIL DE L' EUROPE Restricted AS/Loc I (IJ) 7

. • Or. Ger e

CONSULTATIVE ASSEMBLY

COMMISSION DES POUVOIRS LOCAUX I III PACECOM020985 Sub-conmi-ctoo en European Unification :

European Prize

Candidature of the town of Baden bei Wien

The of Baden near Baden, loth March 1961 To the: Seersta ri P. t-General of the Council of Europe •Committee on Local Authorities ' • Strasbourg Reference;- Zl. A 3150

Sir, I have to ulia.-i-k you for youT circular letter of 22nd February, with reference to our candidature for the "European Pvio'j" nivJ inform you that having regard to the answers to the attached questionnaire, we withdraw our candidature,, • The Municipal it; of Baden is and always has been in favour cf -i".io Europe a r. idea, but the notorious conditions that prevailod in and therefore of course in our A 61.159 . ./• TN 3622/GOR/DJ2T f I AS/Loc I (13) 7 - 2 - town have prevented us so far from accomplishing any outstand- ing successes-within the meaning of your questionnaire. Political circumstances are the sole cause of this state of affairs, for our town was in the Russian zone of occupation and thus naturally could not begin to take any interest in international affairs until after the signature of the Peace Treaty in 1955* Yet one thing is certain: we were one of the first Austrian cities which in spite of tho occupation renewed contacts with Europe - by means of sporting events with Germany and Switzerland (see reply to questionnairo). We also had the intention of entering into similar contacts with certain German and Swiss cities in the fields of music and the graphic arts. Owing to lack of money, however, thoso projects had to be postponed. After the conclusion of the Austrian State Treaty we quite understandably concentrated our efforts on the restoration of our town as a health resort and since reconstruction has entailed extraordinarily high expenditure - in fact the coming generation will have to bear a great part of the burden - we shall be under the necessity for many years ahead of investing any moneys available in promoting our tourist trade. . . . , Until 1938 our town was Austria's leading and with accommodation for 6,500 guests we attained no less than 750,ol|2 guest-nights. Thus Baden as a tourist resort took first place after the Federal Capital, Vienna. In 19i(.6 the life of our city as a spa was non-existent..- There were then only 21; beds available for visitors, and the few who came to Baden in those days were compelled to bring their own food, on account of our catastrophic food situation, if they decided to take" the'waters in our hydropathic establishments. Today we can already look back on a certain degree of success, for we have again accommodation for about 2,000 visitors and in 19&Q , for the first time we attained a total of 371,i;55 guest-nights'. Much has -alrea'dy been done to re-establish our town'as a spa and -health resort and to encourage the tourist trade, but . many of our plans -have yet to be carried out. I have attempted to give a brief description of our situation and you will understand that in view of our replies to your questionnaire appended hereto we are not in a position to maintain our candidature.

•A " . - 5 - AS/LOG i (13) 7

In any case, we ..wish you and your idea for the future every success and hope that the concept of European integration will shortly become the spiritual heritage of our great family of peoples, I have the honour to be, etc. signed; The Mayor

•A 1 AS/Loc I (13),? - k - \

Reply to the[ Questionnaire

: • No. 1: - No. 2: . - No. 3: No. I).: The three towns bearing the name "Baden" - ' I Baden-Baden (Germany), Baden in the Canton of Aargan Qj near Zttrich, Switzerland, and our Baden near Vienna - * have frequently met in football matches. Our matches A were for the "Golden Thermal Cup" which was founded ^ by Switzerland as a challenge cup and will be played for at Whitsun in Baden, near Vienna, in the sixth round. Travelling choirs from Germany have also given concerts in Baden. No. 5:

No. 6: No. 7- No. 8: No. 9: No. 10:

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