General policy of the Council of Europe in the light of the international situation

Recommendation 215 (1959)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly Debate on 17th and 18th September 1959 (18th, 19th and 20th Sittings) (see Doc. 1037, Report of the Political Committee). Text adopted by the Assembly on 18th September 1959 (20th Sitting).

1. The Assembly,

2. Welcoming the excellent results of President Eisenhower's recent visit to Europe, which has done much to consolidate the Atlantic alliance and strengthen Western cohesion ;

3. Trusting that the Geneva Conference of Foreign Ministers and the forthcoming exchange of visits between Mr. Eisenhower and M. Khrushchev will make it possible in the coming months to continue the East-West negotiations ;

4. Whereas the said negotiations can achieve just and lasting results only insofar as the basic principles listed in Resolution 165 are respected ;

5. Whereas one of the fundamental aims of the negotiations should be to reach an agreement on controlled general disarmament ;

6. Whereas the success of the negotiations depends on Western unity of purpose, particularly among the European States,

7. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers should :

8.

8.1 Urge the Member Governments :

a during the forthcoming negotiations, to stand by the basic principles set out in Resolution 165 ;

b to renew, during the negotiations, their efforts to reach the conclusion on an agreement on simultaneous general disarmament guaranteed by a control and inspection system ;

8.2 Present to the Assembly, as soon as possible, a Special Report on the co-ordination of their foreign policies in the field of East-West relations, having first considered appropriate means of consolidating the unity of the European States in the political as well as the economic sphere.