a Owing to the bringing-forward, from autumn to spring, of the date for adoption of the Assembly's opinion on the draft Intergovernmental Work Programme, the Assembly's committees were not given enough time to tackle the preparatory work in the necessary detail. It is therefore the Assembly's wish that future requests for opinions to be adopted in May should reach it not later than the middle of the previous December, accompanied by all the necessary documentary material, including, if possible, the progress report on the current Work Programme.
b Having noted the Committee of Ministers' observation that, when the 1975-76 Work Programme was adopted, modifications could be made to the draft submitted to the Assembly in the light of decisions taken in the meantime on the future role of the Council of Europe, the Assembly refers to its
Recommendation 704 (1973) on this question, and believes that discussion of this matter with the Committee of Ministers must continue. The general direction of intergovernmental activities will certainly be affected as a consequence, and the Assembly suggests that activities in the social-human-economic sector should then be reviewed with a view to strengthening them all round.
c The Assembly appreciates the response made by the Committee of Ministers to the request contained in its
Opinion No. 61 (1972) on the 1973-74 draft Work Programme, in authorising the Secretary General to give it "general indications of the financial implications of implementing the activities included in the draft Work Programme". It would have liked, however, to have fuller information and therefore asks the Committee of Ministers to include numerical data with its reply to the Assembly if it decides to reject any of the proposals below for budgetary reasons.
d As for the amount of the appropriations included in these "general indications", the Assembly believes that, in view of the economic difficulties which member states are now encountering, the real annual budgetary growth-rate of 3,8 % as proposed by the Secretary General would seem sufficient, although it emphasises that the sums in question are extremely modest in comparison with those available to the European Communities. It can also agree to the proposed distribution of appropriations among the four chapters of the Work Programme, subject to any subsequent decisions on the future role of the organisation, particularly in the fields of culture and education. The Assembly therefore recommends that the Council of Europe budgets for 1975 and 1976 should at least be consistent with the budgetary indications given to it.
e Noting that, when the draft Work Programme was prepared, no decision appeared to have been taken on the fellowships and grants programmes, the Assembly expresses the wish that these should be continued.
f With regard to Chapter I of the draft Work Programme, "Man's permanent education and cultural development", the Assembly recalls its previous declarations on the Council of Europe's special role in these sectors, refers to its
Recommendation 717 (1973) on the situation of European cooperation in the field of culture and education, and reserves the right to come back to this when the CCC's activities are discussed.
g With regard to Chapter II, "The adjustment of laws and administrative machinery to present-day living conditions", the Assembly makes the following proposals :
that a new activity be included in the Work Programme relating to harmonisation of penal law in Europe on the taking of hostages and kidnappings in connection with crimes against property, in accordance with its Recommendation 654 (1972) ;
that a new activity be included in the Work Programme relating to the enforcement of penal law in the case of crimes committed against civil aviation, in accordance with its Recommendation 674 (1972) ;
that activities 2116/5 (animal welfare in industrial breeding) and 2116/6 (the use of animals for experimental or industrial purposes) be extended to cover methods of slaughtering meat animals, in accordance with its Recommendation 709 (1973). - The topicality of the first two proposals would justify their insertion in the Work Programme, even if an activity of lesser interest had to be deleted, at the Committee of Ministers' discretion.
h With regard to Chapter III, "The improvement of man's physical environment in the town and in the country", the Assembly notes that the Committee of Ministers had taken no decision, when the draft Work Programme was submitted, either in programme or budgetary terms, on the conclusions of the Ministerial Conferences on the Environment (Vienna, March 1973) and Regional Planning (La Grande-Motte, September 1973). It therefore recalls its Recommendations 720 (1973) and 723 (1974) on the follow-up to these two conferences, and its
Recommendation 693 (1973) on transfrontier cooperation, with regard both to activities and structures. It also proposes :
that, as a logical extension of activity 3112/2 (cooperation between local authorities in Europe), the preparation of appropriate legal instruments to facilitate frontier cooperation between local and regional authorities be added to the Work Programme ;
that on the other hand, activity 3113/5 (environment management in towns) be deleted ;
that a high measure of priority be given to activities 3122/3 (integration into national planning of measures for preservation and rehabilitation of monuments and sites) and 3121/7 (technical assistance in the same field) ;
that the title of activity 3213/6 (harmonisation of national regulations on hunting, freshwater fishing, capture and egg collecting and the specific problems of migratory species) be amended, aiming to the conclusion of one or more legal instruments.
i In Chapter IV, "Development of economic and social structures and improvement of public health conditions", the Assembly proposes fhe following changes :
the retention pro memoria of Objective 412 (elaboration of a common policy to remedy the "technological gap" as it affects the economies of member states) pending receipt of the views requested from specialist international organisations, as indicated in the Committee of Ministers' reply to Recommendation 666 (1972) ;
giving priority to the follow-up of its Recommendation 705 (1973) on consumer protection, in particular under Objective 413 ;
the inclusion of a new activity relating to the institution of social reports, in accordance with its Recommendation 685 (1972) and the statement made to the Assembly, on 19 October 1972, by the Secretary General of OECD ;
the inclusion of a new activity relating to tracing missing persons, in accordance with the Committee of Ministers' reply to its Recommendation 646 (1971) ;
the inclusion in the description of activities 4311/14-16 (hospital questions) of a reference to Recommendation 686 (1972), so as to make it clear that the Assembly's proposals in that recommendation will also be taken into account, in accordance with the Committee of Ministers' reply ;
the inclusion of a new activity relating to frontier workers and replacing preparation of the Convention on the Legal Status of Migrant Workers, now concluded, in the Work Programme ;
continuation of activity 422/5 (equivalence of professional and technical qualifications) in sectors other than that of motor vehicle mechanics ;
the giving of priority to activity 42135/11 (social and economic repercussions on migrant workers of economic crises or recessions), which is justified by the topicality of this question. - If the Committee of Ministers feels unable to approve these proposals without deleting some other activity, the Assembly would accept reduced priority on, or deletion of, activity 4211/8 (functions and status of safety services and safety engineers).
j Finally, the Assembly proposes that the Committee of Ministers should introduce "a priority waiting list" to include a limited number of activities which would only be undertaken if the necessary budgetary resources became available or, at the latest, as part of the next Work Programme. The following should already be included in this list :
