I. THE " DETENTE " AND EuROl'EAN UNITY
The Council of Europe looks forward with hope to the forthcoming Geneva conversations. It welcomes the opportunity of moving towards a genuine detente, even though the Soviet Government may regard it merely as a temporary tactical manoeuvre. Peaceful coexistence must be secured and preserved by a combination of conciliation and vigilance. This vigilance must operate in the most fruitful conditions, by a constant strengthening of European solidarity. If the détente rests on such solidarity, it holds out great hope for the future. If it is secured at the cost of a loosening of the tier of European solidarity, there is a danger that it will be perilously short-lived.
II. DISARMAMENT
The Council of Europe is glad to sec that the Soviet disarmament proposals, as contained, for instance, in the exchange of correspondence between Marshal Bulganin and President Eisenhower, are now more closely in line with the Franco-British Plan of June, 1954. It stresses the decisive importance of the powers to he granted to the control agency.
Rearmament is the result of mistrust and political tension. Present efforts to reduce tension must therefore be continued side by side with the work of the disarmament commission, on the basis of universal, simultaneous and supervised disarmament, confined neither to particular weapons nor particular areas.
III. THE GERMAN PROBLEM AND EUROPEAN SECURITY
The Council of Europe considers that the Soviet Union should likewise accept the right of the German people to unity and freedom, by authorising the establishment of an all-German Government on the basis of free elections. A reunified Germany should have equal rights with other countries, without discrimination by neutralisation or in any other form.
It should not be under any obligation to join any military alliance, but should be free to choose its own method of participating in international co-operation within the framework of the United Nations and of establishing close co-operation with other democratic States.
Any European settlement must offer the same security to Western and Northern Europe as to the Soviet Union. In view of the vital necessity of a settlement of the German problem, the Council of Europe urges the Governments to give serious consideration to any proposal connected therewith.