The composition of the Committee has undergone a slight change since the end of the second part of t h e fourth Session. The seat which became vacant upon the resignation of M. Urgüplü, Vice-President of the Assembly, has not been filled. Furthermore, as a result of general elections in Greece and the Saar, M. Cassimatis replaced M. Stefanopoulos, who has been appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece, and M. Müller replaced M. Braun.
After the conclusion of t h e second part of the Fourth Session, the Committee met on 7th May, 1953, at Strasbourg, thus bringing the number of meetings held in the course of that Session to four, as contemplated under clause 3 of Rule 39 of the Rules of Procedure.
The Committee decided that the fifth Ordinary Session should be opened on 7th May, 1953. In order to avoid a special meeting of the Committee for the sole object of fixing the opening date of the Session, the Bureau decided on 10th March last to seek the opinion of members of the Committee by telegram with regard to the date proposed. Nineteen affirmative replies were received, with the result t h a t the President of t h e Assembly informed all Representatives that the Session would definitely open on 7th May, 1953.
In accordance with Rule 15, paragraph 3, the Committee, at its meeting of 7th May, examined the requests for inclusion of questions in the Agenda, submitted before the opening of the session.
All of them were agreed to, viz :
Doc. 112 : Establishment of an Economic and Social Council of the Council of Europe;
Doc. 113 : Examination of t h e economic situation in Europe, particularly in respect of monetary and trade policy?a question which will replace the previous one, which was worded as follows : Institution of a European monetary system;
Doc. 114 : Co-ordination of European transport ;
Doc. 115 : Measures to be taken in order to assist West Berlin refugees;
Doc. 117 : Inclusion of the German, Italian and Dutch languages in the simultaneous interpretation service of the Assembly;
Doc. 119 : Measures for rendering assistance to the areas of the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Turkey which have suffered damage in the recent disasters.