Bureau and Standing Committee (14th January-28th April, 1958)

Progress report | Doc. 807 | 22 April 1958

Rapporteur :

Mr Kurt Georg KIESINGER, Germany

Thesaurus

1

The Bureau met daily throughout the third part of the Ninth Session, from January 14th to January 17th 1958; it held two further meetings in Paris on 15th March and 19th April.

The Standing Committee also met in Paris on 15th March.

1.1 Date and Agenda of the first part of the Tenth Ordinary Session

At its meetings on 15th March, the Standing Committee fixed the opening date of the Tenth Session for Monday, 28th April 1958. On the proposal of the Bureau, the Standing Committee decided that the first part of the Session should last one week.

Since on Thursday, 1st May, there would be no plenary session, one or two night sessions must be expected.

The Agenda adopted by the Standing Committee for the first part of the Session is given in Document 793 .

1.2 Appointment of a member of the Joint Committee

On 15th March 1958, the Standing Committee appointed M. Paul to sit on the Joint Committee in place of M. Mommer.

1.3 Institutional Reform of the Council of Europe

Under Order 115, adopted on 16th January 1958, the Bureau was instructed by the Assembly to set up a " Working Party composed of a small number of representatives and qualified experts ".

At its meeting of 17th January, the Bureau decided that this Working Party should be made up as follows:

3 members of the Bureau: MM. Dehousse, Edwards and Teitgen.

2 members of the Political Committee: MM. de Menthon and Aktas.

2 members of the Economic Committee: MM. Federspiel and Badini Confalonieri.

1 member of the Legal Committee: M. Kopf.

In addition, 5 experts have been invited to join the Working Party; four of them agreed to do so: MM. Argod (France), Beloff (United Kingdom), Colonna (Italy) and von Schmieden (Federal Republic of Germany); a Swedish expert declined.

The Working Party met twice in Paris, on 10th February and 3rd March, and its report has been transmitted to the Bureau. The Bureau decided, on 15th March, in accordance with Order 115, to consult the Political, Economic and Legal Committees.

At a special meeting on 19th April the Bureau examined the report of the Working Party and the opinions expressed on the report by the three Committees. These Committees having stated that they were unable to give a considered opinion on account of the time-limit imposed, the Bureau decided to ask the Assembly to adjourn the debate until the autumn Session 1958 and to invite the three Committees to return to the question between the first and second parts of the Session.

1.4 References to Committee

At its meeting of 15th March 1958, the Standing Committee decided to refer:

a to the Social Committee, and, for an opinion, to the Committee on Agriculture, the motion of M. Charpentier, Doc. 792, on the European Social Charter (Reference No. 200);

b to the Political Committee the communication from the Committee of Ministers, Doc. 789, on the amendment of Article 26 of the Statute (Reference No. 201);

c to the Social Committee the social aspects of the Free Trade Area (Reference No. 202);

d to the Political Committee, the motion for an Order of the Assembly on the question of the headquarters of the European institutions, submitted by M. Jakobsen, Doc. 788 ) (Reference No. 203).

1.5 Working Parly on relations with national Parliaments

In pursuance of Resolution 135, adopted on 28th October 1957, by which the membership of the Working Party on relations with national Parliaments was increased to 15, the Bureau, on 14th January 1958, appointed the following as members of the Working Party, in accordance with paragraph 2 of Resolution 104:

MM. de la Vallee Poussin (Belgium), van Kauvenbergh (Luxembourg), Sener (Turkey), Rodopoulos (Greece), Mrs. Crowley (Ireland); and the following as alternates: MM. De Kinder (Belgium), Aktas (Turkey), Papathanassis (Greece) and Flanagan (Ireland).

1.6 Committee meetings elsewhere than in Strasbourg and Paris

The Bureau gave its consent, in accordance with paragraph 3 of the rules adopted by the Standing Committee on 12th February 1955, for the following meetings to be held away from Strasbourg and Paris:

a The Committee on Local Authorities, at Turin from 8th to 11th March, for the presentation of the European Prize; in Istanbul from 17th to 23rd May, at Liege from 3rd to 6th July; a Sub-committee of this Committee in Luxembourg on 27th March.

b The Legal Committee in Brussels, on 21st and 22nd March 1958.

c The Political Committee in Berlin, on 31st March, 1st and 2nd April 1958.

d The Cultural Committee in Berlin, on 31st March and 1st April.

1.7 Financial facilities for members of the Assembly

As mentioned in the previous progress report of the Bureau and Standing Committee, Doc. 772, the Committee of Ministers considered the proposals made by the Bureau to facilitate the work of political groups, with particular reference to their secretariat. The Ministers were unable to concur in the Bureau's proposals contained in the Appendix to Doc. 772 . They considered that another formula should be found which would not discriminate between those members of the Assembly who did and those who did not belong to a political group; the matter was re-examined by the Bureau at its meeting on 15th March.

In the light of the observations of the Committee of Ministers the Bureau agreed to propose that the appropriation should not be made in the form of a grant to the three political groups, but allocated for travelling, secretarial or other expenses incurred by members of the Assembly who perform special duties for the Assembly itself or any of its organs.

The Committee of Ministers accepted this proposal and increased by 1,500,000 francs the credit provided in Sub-head 36 of the Council of Europe budget.