Reply to the Report and the Message of the Committee of Ministers
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Adopted
28th August 1950, at the conclusion of the Debate on the second
Report of the Committee on General Affairs (see Doc. AS (2) 107,
and Sitting of 28th August 1950).The Assembly decided
that this Resolution should be included in the letter sent by the
President to the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, when he
transmitted the Recommendations of the Assembly.
The Committee or General Affairs submits
the following text of the reply to be included in the letter which
the President of the Assembly will address to the Chairman of the
Committee of Ministers when forwarding to him the Recommendations
of the Assembly.
1. The Assembly, having before it the Report and the
Message of the Committee of Ministers, has noted with satisfaction
that the Committee of Ministers has supplemented its Report with
the political considerations contained in the Message.
It has taken note of the decisions taken during recent months
with a view to the unification of Europe, as set forth in the Message.
It hopes that they will be the forerunners of further specific measures.
In particular, it warmly welcomes the initiative of the French Government,
2. The Assembly has recognised readily that account
must be taken of these results in judging the actions of the Committee
of Ministers, which is the representative organ of the Governments.
But it emphasises that this very fact bears witness to the imperative
necessity of effecting a closer co-ordination between the existing intergovernmental
organisations. It particularly draws the attention of the Committee
of Ministers to the Recommendations which it has adopted on this
matter.
3. The Assembly has welcomed the statements made by the Chairman
of the Committee of Ministers and M. Schuman. It has requested me
warmly to thank them. It regrets, however, that the Representative
of the Committee of Ministers should not have been in a position
to reply to the questions asked by the various speakers.
The Assembly, indeed, considers it essential for the progress
of its work and for the development of the Council of Europe as
a whole, that both Representatives of the Committee of Ministers
and Ministers of the Member States should take an active part in
its Debates.
4. The Assembly thanks the Committee of Ministers for
giving it the opportunity of proclaiming its agreement with the
action taken by the Security Council of the United Nations and for
thus enabling European public opinion to express itself on the gravest
problems which are now causing such deep anxiety in our countries.
The Assembly declares that it is only by the closest liaison
between the Governments of democratic Europe - whose mouthpiece
is the Committee of Ministers - and the European Parliaments - of
which the Assembly is the most qualified representative - that it
will become possible for the people to be fully associated with
the grave measures which have now to be taken by the free States
of Europe.
5. It is these very considerations that have caused
the Assembly to regard the conclusions of the Statutory Report of
the Committee of Ministers as extremely disappointing.
The main part of the decisions taken by the Committee has
only been concerned with questions of internal organisation or of
procedure. With the exception of the Convention on Human Rights,
the few Recommendations adopted by the Committee have only been
concerned with secondary questions.
6. It would appear that this lack of effective liaison
between the Committee of Ministers and the Assembly has prevented
the Committee from grasping the immense importance that the Assembly
attaches to consideration being given to its Recommendations. Whatever
may have been said, the Assembly is composed of politicians who
fully recognise the gravity of their responsibilities. Consequently,
the Assembly regrets that the Committee of Ministers should not
have seen its way to make fitting use of an organisation that came
into being - as it undoubtedly did - under the pressure of public
opinion in the Member States, and which has received the approbation
of the Parliaments of those countries.
7. Faced with the hesitancy of the Committee, the Assembly has
endeavoured to propose modifications or interpretations of the Statute
which, in its opinion, would be calculated to improve the functioning
of that instrument. But the Assembly did not seek to substitute
itself for the executive power. Its role with regard to questions
affecting European union is to formulate proposals of a general
character and to define the principles of the political action which
it recommends to the Governments. It will then appertain to those
Governments to work out detailed plans of action capable of being
put into effect.
On the other hand, the Assembly, which is the expression of
European public opinion, is justified in asking that the Committee
of Ministers should provide it with definite plans, largely taking
into account the Recommendations passed by the Assembly. The Assembly
is ready to give its complete support to such plans, in conformity
with its mission, and with the hopes that the peoples have placed
in it.
It is in this spirit that the Assembly has sought, during
the present Session, to confirm and supplement its previous Recommendations.
It expresses the firm hope that the Committee of Ministers will
acquaint it, before the opening of the second period of its present
Session, of its first positive decisions on these Recommendations,
decisions which, it hopes, will be of a favourable nature.
