General policy of the Council of Europe

Recommendation 568 (1969)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 1 and 2 October 1969 (12th and 13th Sittings) (see Doc. 2640, report of the Political Affairs Committee). Text adopted by the Assembly on 2 October 1969 (13th Sitting).

The Assembly,

1. Considering the increasingly vital need to accelerate the process of European integration by consolidating the European Communities, by the complete application of the treaties which set them up, by enlarging them to include all the countries which have applied for accession or association, and by working steadily towards a European political unity ;

2. Considering that the strengthening of the European Communities must go hand in hand with their enlargement ;

3. Welcoming the agreement reached among the Six on organising on 17 and 18 November 1969 a "summit conference" which will discuss the future of the Communities and the question of their enlargement ;

4. Convinced that the "technical" problems raised by the enlargement of the European Communities, for instance in the monetary, agricultural, technological and institutional spheres, should be soluble, given the necessary political will on all sides ;

5. Emphasising the need to complete the economic unification of Europe by a real political union ;

6. Considering that economic and political Europe must be furnished with viable structures and founded on democratic principles ;

7. Considering that pending the achievement of a real European political union, it is important to extend and intensify political consultations between the governments of democratic Europe ;

8. Considering that only a concerted effort by these governments to harmonise and unify their national policies can create a European political identity, which is a condition for any further substantial progress towards unification,

9. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers invite member governments :

a to take all necessary steps to bring about, as early as is possible, the enlargement of the European Communities to include those states which have applied for accession or association, while taking measures for special arrangements to safeguard the position of neutral countries ;

b to complete the economic unification of Europe by a real political union ;

c pending the achievement of a real political union, to extend and intensify their political consultations and, to this end, to make use of all the facilities provided by the Council of Europe and by other European institutions.