THIRTY - SIXTH SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS MINUTES of the meeting held at 10 a.m. in Strasbourg on 3rd May 1965 Present : NETHERLANDS Mr. W.J.D. PHILIPSE 1 NORWAY Mr. J. BOYESEN 2 AUSTRIA Mr. C. BOBLETER 1 SWEDEN Mr. S. LINDH 3 BELGIUM Mr. L. COUVREUR 2 SWITZERLAND Mr. F.T. WAHLEN, Chairman CYPRUS Mr. A. ARAOUZOS 3 TURKEY Mr. H. E. ISIK DENMARK Mr. P. HAEKKERUP UNITED KINGDOM Mr. Walter PADLEY 4 FRANCE Mr. C. H. BONFILS 4 Mr. Peter SMITHERS, Secretary General FEDERAL REPUBLIC Mr. P. MODINOS, Deputy Secretary General OF GERMANY Mr. K. CARSTENS 5 Mr. R. LUC, Political Director GREECE Mr. D. PAPPAS 6 Mr. H. LELEU, Secretary of the Committee ICELAND Mr. P. EGGERZ 7 of Ministers. 8 IRELAND Mr. B. DURNIN Mr. F.T. Wahlen, Federal Councillor, Head ITALY Mr. A. FANFANI of the Swiss Federal Political Department, took LUXEMBOURG Mr. M. FISCHBACH 9 the Chair ar 10.15 a.m. MALTA Mr. G. BORG OLIVIER The CHAIRMAN, on behalf of the Committee, greeted Mr. Borg Olivier, the Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Malta. He was glad that that country, so closely bound to the 1. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in place of West by its history and culture, had gained its Mr. B. Kreisky, Minister for Foreign Affairs. independence, and he extended a cordial wel- come to Mr. Borg Olivier. 2. Permanent Representative of the Belgian Govern- ment to the Council of Europe, in place of Mr. P. H. Spaak, Minister for Foreign Affairs. Mr. BORG OLIVIER (Malta) said that he was pleased and proud to take part in such a distinguish- 3. Minister for Commerce and Industry, in place of ed gathering. He looked forward to a real gain Mr. S. Kyprianou, Minister for Foreign Affairs. from the admission and accession of Malta to the 4. Permanent Representative of the French Govern- Council of Europe. He hoped that Malta would be ment to the Council of Europe, in place of Mr. M. able to make a real contribution to the proceed- Couve de Murville, Minister for Foreign Affairs. ings of the Council. 5. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in place of Mr. G. Schroeder, Minister for Foreign Affairs. Mr. FANFANI (Italy) associated himself with the welcome to the Prime Minister of Malta, and 6. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in place of Mr. S. Costopoulos, Minister for Foreign Affairs. 1. Permanent Representative of the Netherlands Government to the Council of Europe, in place of 7. Permanent Representative of the Iceland Govern- Mr. J.M.A.H. Luns, Minister for Foreign Affairs. ment to the Council of Europe, in place of Mr. G. I. Gudmundsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs. 2. Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in place of Mr. H. Lange, Minister for Foreign Affairs. 8. Permanent Representative of the Irish Government to the Council of Europe, in place of Mr. F. Aiken, 3. Permanent Representative of the Swedish Govern- Minister of External Affairs. ment to the Council of Europe, in place of Mr. T. Nilsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs. 9. Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, in place of Mr. P. Werner, President of the Government and 4. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, in place of Minister for Foreign Affairs. the R?. Hon. M. Stewart, Minister for Foreign Affairs. - 90 - Minutes — Thirty-Sixth Session of the Committee of Ministers — 3rd May 1965 - 10 a.m. said he was sure that in so doing he was inter- As for countries which were not in formal preting the feelings of the Italian Government relationship with the Council of Europe, he and people. The presence of Malta within the wished to refer to Rumania and Hungary. The Council of Europe showed that the work done by Rumanian Ambassador in London had asked for the Council was beginning to bear fruit and was information on Council of Europe Conventions, a good sign for the future. particularly those open to non-Members, and general information on the Council of Europe Mr. PADLEY (United Kingdom) wished to was supplied. A member of the Embassy staff in associate the British Government with the wel- Paris had visited the Secretariat and after further come to Malta. The United Kingdom had jointly documentation had made a detailed inquiry about sponsered her membership with Italy. She was a the Centre for Mediterranean Agronomic Studies. Member of the Commonwealth, and one of the oldest and proudest countries in Europe. He felt A visit had also been paid to the Council sure that the Prime Minister of Malta and his by a representative of the Hungarian Embassy in colleagues would pay a valuable contribution in Paris, asking for the same sort of information. this and future meetings of the Council of Europe. He had told the Secretary General how great the value of the visit was ; in the past Hungary had The SECRETARY GENERAL, speaking on thought that bilateral relations were the most behalf of the Secretariat, welcomed the member- important, but they were now changing their ship of Malta, which now brought the number of view, and the Secretary General thought this a Members to the auspicious number of eighteen. most significant development. The Foreign Min- The Secretariat looked forward to working with ister of Hungary had said in a recent visit to the Maltese Government and Parliament. Vienna that his country did not exclude co- operation with the Council of Europe in the future. I. Adoption of the Agenda There had also been demands for document- The CHAIRMAN, observing that there were no ation by correspondence, chiefly by academic comments on the proposed agenda, declared it bodies. Four had been received from Hungary, adopted (Appendix 12). three each from Rumania and East Germany, and two from Czechoslovakia. II. Relations with third countries This was all that the Secretary General had to report since last December. The estimate The SECRETARY GENERAL said that the made then had proved correct; there was much Council of Europe represented only a part of interest in Eastern Europe in the technical work Europe, but had close relations with certain of the Council, but there was much caution. other countries ; in particular he wished to refer Governments would continue to think hard be- to Spain, Finland, the Vatican and Yugoslavia. fore further actual developments. As instructed With regard to Spain, there were no new develop- by the Committee of Ministers, no initiatives ments to report since last December; she con- were being taken by the Secretariat. There might tinued to be represented at the CCC and the CCJ. be more frequent meetings in future, particularly at other international organisations, for example A Finnish observer continued also to attend representatives were attending the UNESCO these bodies. Under the procedure for admission Study Group in Budapest and the Conference on of non-member countries at other organs without Universities at Dubrovnik. formality, Finland was represented at the Euro- pean Committee on Crime Problems. It would be helpful, he concluded, if Govern- ments would continue to give the Secretariat their There were no developments since Decem- views before December next on the important and ber with regard to the Vatican. Yugoslav observers, delicate matters involved in further relationship however, after an absence of some time, had with the Eastern bloc. returned to the Committee on Higher Education and Research. 1. See page 215. - 91 - Minutes — Thirty-Sixth Session of the Committee of Ministers — 3rd May 1965 - 10 a.m. Mr. PADLEY (United Kingdom) said his ritory, and that her frontiers were not in question. Government had welcomed the decision in De- Both countries were interested in further technic- cember to respond favourably to approaches from al co-operation ; and the Deputy Prime Minister countries in Eastern Europe. He agreed with the of Czechoslovakia was coming to the United Secretary General that there was need to remem- Kingdom this summer. ber their sensitivity and development must not be expected or sought too quickly. Mr. BOBLETER (Austria) referred to the visit of President Klaus to the Council of Europe, and Referring to the British Foreign Minister's said that he had spoken since then on television visits to Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, he directly to the people of Yugoslavia in Serbo- said that they were made in response to a mutual Croat. He felt this was a successful contribution wish for closer contacts, and constituted a step which showed the importance of direct contacts forward in relations between their countries, in by Heads of State. accordance with the policy of developing closer links approved by this Committee and by other He emphasised the desire of Austria to build international organisations in the West. closer links with Yugoslavia. Austria was well placed to do this because of her common frontier No British Foreign Minister had visited and long historical contact. Austria wanted to Belgrade since 1957, nor as far as he could see a continuation of friendly visits such as find out had any British Foreign Minister ever that undertaken by Chancellor Klaus with Eastern visited Czechoslovakia. European countries ; in these the strengthening of economic links was especially important. To In Yugoslavia, respective points of view on suggest that an ideological change in Com- current international problems had been exchang- munism was coming about, it is true, would be ed and sympathy had been enlisted for the utopian. The visit of the Hungarian Minister for Western point of view. Yugoslavia was in many Foreign Affairs to Austria had marked another instances ready to say that while our analysis step forward in the normalisation of relations of problems differed, our aims were not dissimilar.