Proposed European Conference of Ministers of Posts and Telecommunications

Recommendation 206 (1959)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly Debate on 15th September 1959 (14th Sitting) (see Doc. 1028, Report of the Economic Committee). Text Adopted by the Assembly on 15th September 1959 (14th Sitting).

The Assembly,

1. Welcoming the technical progress made so far at the Conferences of St. Moritz and Montreux to organise more fully European co-operation in the field of posts and telecommunications ;

2. Thanking the Committee of Ministers for the information on this matter contained in their last Statutory Report to the Assembly, and for the support which the Ministers have given so far to the Assembly's proposals in this regard ;

3. Believing nevertheless that only a European Conference of Ministers of Posts and Telecommunications will : enable progress to be made most effectively and most rapidly ; make the best contribution to the promotion of the European idea ; develop the most fruitful co-operation already established between the Consultative Assembly on the one hand and intergovernmental bodies such as O.E.E.C., E.C.M.T., and E.C.A.C. on the other ; fully accord with the Committee of Ministers' own programme for the rationalisation of European institutions, particularly as regards the economic use of staff and the convenience of centralised location for such bodies ; and, finally, can best be fitted into the system of European co-operation at the level of the Seventeen, which it is hoped a European Economic Association will make possible in the near future ;

4. Welcoming the strong support which it understands has been given by the Austrian Government to the Assembly's original proposals ;

5. Noting the signature by the eighteen member countries of the O.E.E.C. and by Finland of the final Protocol setting up the European Conference of Posts and Telecommunications Administrations, Recommends to the Committee of Ministers :

5.1 that it should try to obtain a unanimous decision of Member Governments whereby the European Conference of Posts and Telecommunications Administrations will be treated as preparatory to a European Conference of Ministers of Posts and Telecommunications, to be set up as soon as possible and to be linked with the O.E.E.C. in the same way as the E.C.M.T., and in the manner proposed by the Assembly ;

5.2 that the Statutes of the Conference should provide, inter alia, for links with the Council of Europe, including the submission by the Conference to the Consultative Assembly of an Annual Report, to which the Assembly may reply.