Declaration on CE unity among European democracies

Resolution 607 (1975)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

See Doc. 3694See Doc. 3694, report of the Political Affairs Committee. Text adopted by the Standing Committee acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 27 November 1975.

Thesaurus

The Assembly,

1. Considering that the Council of Europe is one of the vital components in a differentiated system of European co-operation that accords with the needs and interests of all the countries committed to the unification of Europe ;

2. Recalling that the basic aim of the Council of Europe, as defined in 1949, is to achieve "closer unity" between its Members ;

3. Recalling that the constant aim of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which has been associated with each successive stage in the building of Europe, has been to promote closer unity among the European democracies ;

4. Convinced that this closer unity between its member countries must be based on those common values which will be the mark of European society in the future ;

5. Considering that nationalism must give way before the manifest desire of European peoples to achieve better mutual understanding and before the fact of continental and universal interdependence ;

6. Believing that the experience of the various organisations of which European countries are members should be turned to account in the formulation of the principles for establishing closer unity between European countries,

7. Declares that :

The objectives of this closer unity between European countries must be :

a to promote parliamentary democracy

through respect for and the furtherance of human rights, the principles of individual freedom, political liberty and the rule of law, which form the basis of all genuine democracy ;

through a fairer distribution of wealth and incomes ;

through increased participation by workers in the decision-making process in their working lives ;

b to improve the quality of life

by humanising working conditions and safeguarding full employment ;

by increasing the economic resources for priority allocation to the underprivileged ;

by protecting and improving the rural and urban environment ;

by putting an end to the squandering and wastage of the earth's resources, and by reprocessing raw materials ;

by distributing food supplies and raw materials justly and equitably among the peoples of the world ;

by actively seeking solutions to the world population problem ;

c to promote world peace and the solution of vital world problems

by attaining the objectives defined by the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, which ought to lead to the development of better and closer relations among participating states in all fields and thus to overcoming the confrontation stemming from the character of their past relations, and to better mutual understanding ;

by co-ordinating action with other industrialised and capital-owning countries with a view to co-operating with the developing countries and giving them practical assistance ; such action should be pursued in the spirit of the resolution on the development of international economic cooperation passed by the United Nations General Assembly at its 7th Special Session in September 1975 ;

by action to remedy situations engendering conflict among the peoples of Europe and to solve the conflicts still causing bloodshed in the world.

These objectives must be attained through the gradual working out by Council of Europe member states of a common policy :

a taking account of Recommendation 704 (1973) of the Parliamentary Assembly on the mission of the Council of Europe and of Resolution (74) 4 of the Committee of Ministers on the future role of the Council of Europe ;

b exploiting the Council of Europe's possibilities of action to the full :

as regards the political role of the Council of Europe, by substantially improving and making more extensive use of existing machinery in order to enable the Council to pursue its aims, principles and self-appointed tasks more efficiently ;

by taking intergovernmental action in the sectors in which the Council of Europe seeks to serve the interests of man in society, namely :

study of the problems facing society and parliamentary democracies ;

safeguarding and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms ;

participation by local and regional authorities in the building of Europe and in the making of all decisions affecting the life of local and regional communities ;

harmonisation of legal systems and of national legislation in specific sectors ;

educational, cultural, scientific and technological co-operation ;

study of questions relating to the young ;

social and socio-economic problems, including those relating to migrant workers and consumer protection ;

protection and improvement of public health ;

protection of the natural and man-made environment and regional planning.

The objectives set out in section I above must be attained, and a common policy formulated, with the help of the various local, regional, national and international authorities, namely :

a local and regional authorities, whose work and responsibilities should be given greater recognition ;

b the institutions of national governments ;

c organisations for co-operation between states, such as the Intergovernmental Conference and Parliamentary Council of the Benelux Union and the Nordic Council ;

d the institutions of the European Community ;

e the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) ;

f Western European Union ;

g the Council of Europe, a vital component in a differentiated system of European cooperation, with permanent responsibility for maintaining liaison with the above-mentioned bodies ; the Committee of Ministers should be able to sit at "specialist Minister" level ; its task will be to foster, in the widest possible European framework, the sort of intergovernmental co-operation that will ultimately lead to the establishment of closer unity between European countries ;

h the other larger international organisations which contribute to strengthen European co-operation, such as OECD, Unesco and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

All European organisations must help promote closer unity between European countries. Their activities must be complementary, not competitive, and for that reason :

a the Council of Europe-OECD Liaison Committees must contribute to improve co-operation and co-ordination between the two organisations ;

b maximum use must be made of Article 230 of the Treaty of Rome which stipulates that "the Community shall establish all appropriate forms of co-operation with the Council of Europe" ;

c the Arrangement concluded in 1959 between the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and the EEC Commission must really be applied to ensure that the work of the two organisations is better co-ordinated and genuinely complementary ;

d the greatest importance should be attached to the efforts made by the European Community and EFTA to simplify and improve co-ordination and co-operation between them and between the European Community and each of the EFTA countries.

Whenever a step is taken towards closer unity between a limited number of European countries provision should be made for other European democracies to accede or participate at a later stage and for co-operation with the outside to be maintained.

The closer unity between European democracies would be founded on their common agreement on the fundamental principles of a European society and their membership of the Council of Europe ;

8. Instructs its President to communicate this Declaration :

to the governments and parliaments of the Council of Europe member states ;

to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe ;

to the institutions of the European Community ;

to the institutions of EFTA ;

to the institutions of Western European Union ;

to the institutions of the Benelux Union and the Nordic Council ;

to the Belgian Prime Minister, Mr Leo Tindemans, as a contribution to the study he is carrying out at the request of the heads of state or government of the European Community ;

to the European public by all appropriate means.