Sir,
In accordance with the Assembly's decision of 18th April, 1956, I have the honour to communicate to you t h e letter sent on t he 9th April, 1956, by the Chairman of the Committee on General Affairs to the President of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, together with the proposals made by t h e Bureau on this subject to t h e Assembly.
At its last meeting the Committee on General Affairs considered the desirability of continuing the study of t h e political aspects of European defence. This question has been on the Agenda of the Committee since 1950, b u t no report on the problem has been presented to the Assembly since the Session held in September, 1953. In the meantime the W. E. U. and its Assembly have begun their work, and this has raised the question of defining the competence of each of the two Assemblies.
Following its examination of this question the Committee took the following decisions, which it has instructed me to communicate to you :
(i) The Committee does not consider that at present conditions are such as to enable it to present a report to the Eighth Ordinary Session of the Consultative Assembly.
(ii) The Committee considers that the political aspects of European defence still fall within the competence of the Consultative Assembly, notwithstanding the creation of the Assembly of W. E. U.
(iii) The Committee, desirous of establishing close relations with the Assembly of W. E. U., requests you to be good enough to bring the following two proposals to the notice of that Assembly:
The Committee on General Affairs of the Consultative Assembly requests the Assembly of W. E. U. to present an annual report to the Consultative Assembly so t h a t it may have the necessary information to prepare a report on the political aspects of European defence, should the Consultative Assembly decide to undertake such a study.
The Committee on General Affairs requests the Assembly of W. E. U. to invite members of the Consultative Assembly who are not members of the Assembly of W. E. U., but whose States are Members of N. A. T. O., to take part as observers in its debates on the question of European defence.
The Bureau has approved the two proposals contained in this letter, the first being a request to the Assembly of W. E. U. to send an annual report to the Consultative Assembly, the second relating to the sending of observers to the Assembly of W. E. U., who would be the Representatives of Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Greece and Turkey to the Consultative Assembly.
If the Assembly agrees in principle with these two proposals it will doubtless instruct its Bureau to get into touch with the Bureau of the Assembly of W. E. U. in order to seek, in agreement with the latter, ways and means of implementing the suggestions of the Committee on General Affairs.
I remain, Sir, Your obedient Servant.
Signed : Dunstan CURTIS
Acting Clerk of the Assembly