B 2. Explanatory Memorandum
1. The transmission of the Euratom Commission's
First General Report represents the
first opportunity afforded to the Consultative
Assembly of examining the activities of the
European Atomic Energy Community since it
started operations and of officially communicating
its views to this new body. In the light
of earlier resolutions and recommendations
adopted during the negotiations on the Euratom
Treaty the principal concern of the Assembly
will be to support the full realisation of Euratom's
objectives and, at the same time, to ascertain
t h a t in so doing proper consideration is given by Euratom to the efforts to develop atomic
energy for peaceful purposes that are made by
other European countries and organisations.
2. In practical terms, the Assembly's task
•will be to ensure that the relations between
Euratom and the European Nuclear Energy
Agency of O.E.E.C. (E.N.E.A.) are developed to
the fullest extent and the mutual advantage of
all interested parties. While this is obviously
a delicate responsibility, the Assembly, in discharging
it, can make a really worth-while contribution
to the success of European co-operation
in the development of this new and vital source
of energy.
3. The First General Report of the Commission
deals with the first eight months of its
activities. It is therefore mainly an account of
the necessary preliminaries for Euratom's future
action—the establishment of the Communities'
Institutions and subsidiary bodies, and of the
Commission's administration; the relations between
these bodies and the two other Communities
and the programming of work in the many
branches of activity prescribed by the Treaty.
Except for certain concrete, and important,
achievements which will be singled out below,
the Commission's performance must therefore
be judged on its declared intentions rather than
on its deeds. On this score the Report contains
much to commend it to the Assembly. The
Assembly will welcome the many statements
in the Report—relating to security control,
health control, research and Euratom's relations
with other countries and organisations generally
— which affirm the Commission's recognition of
the need for European and international collaboration
on the widest possible basis and in the
freest possible forms.
4. The Assembly will particularly welcome
the account of the Commission's close relations
with E.N.E.A. In order to stress the importance
i t attaches to this question, the Assembly may,
however, wish to request the Commission to
give fuller accounts of these relations in future,
as the activities of the two organisations gather
momentum.
5. In the interest of European nuclear
development as a whole, the Assembly may also
ask the Commission to give the closest attention
to the possibilities of associating other member countries of O.E.E.C., individually or collectively,
in limited Euratom projects of mutual interest,
especially in research. In this connection, it
is to be hoped that the Commission may be able
to give favourable consideration to the suggestion
put forward in the Assembly's Recommendation
187 of October 1958 on possible participation
by other OEEC member countries in the joint
Euratom-United States research programmes.
6. The greatest positive achievement of
the Commission in the period under review is
the conclusion of the Co-operation Agreement
with the United States Government. Both
parties are to be congratulated on the generous
terms of this agreement.
7. The progress reported by the Commission
in the preparation of the security control
system, of basic standards of preventive health
control, and in regard to atomic risk insurance,
also deserve an expression of satisfaction. The
Assembly has on many occasions insisted on
the fundamental importance of establishing a
legal framework adapted to the special dangers
and risks of nuclear energy in a manner that
will dispel fears and confusion in the public
mind and in industry.
8. Finally, in thanking the Commission
for the transmission of its First General Report,
the Assembly will undoubtedly wish to thank
the Commission for the regular transmission in
future of its statutory reports (as has already
been agreed). It will also wish to welcome the
declaration made by the Commission that it is
ready to take a share in future joint meetings of
the Consultative Assembly and the European
Parliamentary Assembly. It is indeed to be hoped
that yet further forms of collaboration will be
established between the Consultative Assembly
and Euratom. In particular, the Assembly
should again recall the need for close collaboration
and frequent contacts not only between
the executive and parliamentary organs but also
at secretariat level, emphasising the politically
important role which the Assembly is called upon
to play in securing better public understanding
of the problems facing the two European nuclear
organisations and in securing public confidence
for their work.
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