Draft Reply to the Cultural and Social Chapters of the Second Annual Report of the Council of W.E.U.
Communication
| Doc. 646
| 06 April 1957
- Author(s):
- Committee of Ministers
- Thesaurus
1 Draft Reply to the cultural chapter (Rapporteur
: M. SENGHOR)
1.1 Introduction
1. In a previous reply to the Supplementary Report of
the Council, I was at pains to remind the Assembly of the various
WEU bodies operating in the cultural field. It seemed necessary
to me, when the General Affairs Committee of your Assembly was set
up, to make a rapid survey of what had been done and what is still
being done under the auspices of the Cultural Division of the Secretariat-
General. I was thinking, in fact, that these cultural activities
which we sometimes tend to consider minor activities compared with
the great political or military questions, were perhaps those which,
coupled with the social activities, would allow us to make most progress
in the idea of European unity and indeed to make it a reality.
2. It was with great satisfaction therefore that I read Chapter
VI in the Second Annual Report of the Council (
Doc. 37) on the activities of Western European Union in the
cultural field. The importance of this Chapter and the value of
the information contained therein no longer leave any doubts as
to the need to continue within Western European Union the task already
undertaken. To the satisfaction I felt at seeing the Council give considerable
attention to cultural questions, may I add the personal interest
I took in reading the Report, to which wide publicity should be
given.
3. In this reply of your General Affairs Committee I would like
to stress several points which have appeared to me of special importance,
without, for all that, wishing to exclude the other activities from
the limelight. First, I should like to examine the general principle
of the organization of the work of Western European Union in the cultural
field; secondly, I should like to say how important I consider the
activity of the Committee on Public Administration ; thirdly, I
would mention the achievements of the Universities Committee and,
finally, rapidly review the more important aspects of the other
activities of Western European Union in the cultural field.
1.2 General principle of the organisation of the work
of Western European Union in the cultural field
4. The Report of the Council stresses the fact that
the activities of Western European Union are " an experiment in
intergovernmental co-operation with essentially pragmatic aims and
decentralized machinery. " It is most important that this aspect
should have been stressed. In fact, the modified Brussels Treaty
gives the Member States a precise objective, which is to achieve
a certain cultural community. It is reassuring to note that the
machinery of this experiment in intergovernmental co-operation should
have been empirical. It would be useless to hare produced yet another
table around which to hold elegant discussions on cultural questions. The
essential is to achieve concrete results, and Western European Union
is an organization which deals in terms of reality. Its task, as
your Committee has already mentioned in its previous report, and
as it hopes to prove in the rest of this paper, is to reach practical
solutions.
5. Moreover, it is an experiment in intergovernmental co-operation.
Its Committees are composed of national officials who well understand
the difficulties which they have to solve, and who can by frank discussions
define immediate aims closely related to those laid down in the
Treaty. Your Committee desires to emphasize the fact that this is
a matter of intergovernmental co-operation. The Committees and Sub-committees
of Western European Union are not composed of men in search of an
ideal solution, and who, having found it, recommend its adoption
to the Governments. Quite the contrary, the national officials are inclined
only to seek possible and appropriate solutions. But this must not
lead to collective inactivity; the Cultural Division of the Secretariat-General
should have a stimulating role, and this is only possible if it
is sufficiently staffed The Budget shows that only four officials
have been appointed to deal with cultural affairs out of a total
of seventy in the Secretariat-General.
6. Finally, these activities are decentralized in practice.
This results from their experimental nature as exercises in intergovernmental
co-operation. The Sub-committees operate at the level where they
can be most useful; they enjoy a large degree of autonomy within
the limits of the general aims laid down by the Brussels Treaty.
7. This experiment in intergovernmental co-operation received
fresh impetus when the Paris Agreements were signed; and, further,
the experiment was extended to two new Member States. It must be
stressed that this extension and this impetus were made possible
because, in the cultural field, the two new Member States showed
a close affinity to the five original European Member States.
8. By way of concluding these general considerations, and having
noted the large number of meetings (109 to date), conferences, exchanges
of documents, films and works of all descriptions, your Committee
is of the opinion that this experiment must be extended. If it is
compared with national activities in the cultural field it will be
recognised that there are still possibilities for expansion. Your
Rapporteur, who represents an overseas territory of the French Republic,
ventures to refer to the very numerous and valuable links which
exist between French culture and negro-African culture. He cannot
help thinking that if the links between the different European cultures
were to be as numerous and as close as those existing within the
French community between the two cultures which I have just mentioned,
very great benefit would result for the strengthening of the European
community.
1.3 Activities of the Public Administration Committee
9. In its previous report your Committee had mentioned
the fact that the Public Administration Committee had become an
independent Committee like the Cultural Committee inside the cultural
section of the Secretariat- General. Set up in 1951 under the title
of the Government Officials Sub-committee, it was made responsible
for co-operation in the administrative field and at four meetings
examined a large number of questions concerning the administration
of the member countries, a list of which is given in the Report
of the Council. Reorganised as the Public Administration Committee
in 1956, it decided in 1957 to undertake a study of the adaptation
of traditional forms of government so as to carry out a major development
programmé (basic services, redistribution and utilization of land,
social welfare problems).
10. Your Committee attaches special importance to the work of
this Public Administration Committee. Not only is it a new experiment
which merits our close attention but it is an experiment which without
doubt could nowhere be better conducted than within Western European
Union. Without ignoring the differences in the internal public law,
administrative standards and civil service organization in different
countries, it is, nevertheless, true of the problems with which
the officials of the different member countries are grappling j
that the methods and traditions are sufficiently ; comparable for
useful results to be achieved.
11. The Public Administration Committee is not, however, a civil
service committee. Its task is not to harmonise the terms of service
of civil servants, but the way in which such officials perform their
duties in a given situation. It might be desirable, indeed, for
the Committee to deal with questions of unifying salary-scales in
the member countries so as to give a solid basis to the subsequent
creation of a European civil service.
12. Your Committee is very glad to see the place occupied by
questions of local administration in the work of this Committee—and
hopes that improved relations between the administration and those
administered will make an important contribution to the European
idea. Local administration affects in some degree the daily life of
the citizens of Western Europe. Is it not desirable to achieve a
harmony which would give Europeans the feeling that they belonged
to a single community? It is in this spirit that the Committee should
establish close links with the movement on the part of local municipal
councillors to effect close liaison in their work and to compare
their experiences.
13. Needless to say, the bilateral exchanges of officials with
which the Committee is concerned, are highly desirable. It is to
be hoped that they will become more numerous.
14. Your Committee considers that the work of the Public Administration
Committee is novel and offers a wealth of possibilities; it is important
that everything should be done to facilitate its task. It considers
that liaison should be maintained with the cultural activities of
Western European Union—and it is glad for this reason that it is
the Cultural Division of the Secretariat-General which is in charge
of this work. j
15. Would it not be possible to make a j comparative study of
the administrative and j legal appeal facilities open to the officials
of j Member States? i Í 16. Does the Council intend to organise
J courses on questions of local administration for j officials of
the member countries?
1.4 Achievements of the Universities Committee
16. One of the most profitable activities undertaken
by Western European Union has been the Conference of European Rectors
and Vice-Chancellors. In a previous report reference has already
been made to the Cambridge Conference held in July 1955 in the presence
of 90 Rectors and Vice-Chancellors and 25 officials from fifteen
European countries. The studies undertaken by this Conference on
the balance between specialization and general culture, the autonomy
and independence of the universities, the selection, training and
welfare of students, and, finally, the university and society are
questions of fundamental concern to the universities. A report on
this Conference has been published and, following on the Conference
and the Resolutions adopted by it, enquiries have been undertaken
on which reports are being prepared or have already been published.
It would be desirable for your Committee to be officially informed
of them.
17. Your Committee has taken full note of what has been done
in the field of study abroad and is glad that its question A 4
Note has been answered in this way.
18. Your Committee attaches great importance to the next Conference
of European Rectors and Vice-Chancellors which is to be held in
Dijon during the summer of 1959. No doubt a larger number of countries
will be represented at this Conference than are represented in Western
European Union, but it is still true that it is Western European
Union which has been the instigator and the experimental laboratory
in this activity. Your Rapporteur has already stressed this function
in his previous report and in his report on the future role of Western
European Union. He would like to add in parenthesis his recollections
as a French delegate to the General Conferences of UNESCO. In this
organization he often felt the importance of a united group of fairly homogeneous
States, resolved not only to take the lead but to foster friendly
relations between the member nations. He cannot help recalling the
UNESCO meeting in New Delhi last summer which threatened to come to
a premature end because of the open opposition between various groups
of States belonging to different cultures. An explosion and setback
were only avoided b y the resolute action of the representatives
of what was then referred to as the W E U Group who, far from considering
themselves as one of the opposing groups, found in the universalist
vocation of Europe the means of suggesting a compromise and agreement.
In this spirit your Rapporteur wonders whether in the Universities
Committee the countries of Western European Union cannot play the
fruitful role which they played in New Delhi.
19. Finally, your Committee considers it would be desirable for
it to be represented at the Universities Conference in Dijon.
20. Your Committee considers the preparation of a guide for students
wishing to study abroad to be very important. It would like this
guide to be sent to the Assembly as soon as it appears and hopes
that it will be widely distributed to universities and European
colleges, to the staff responsible for registering students in universities,
and to student associations. In the same spirit it hopes that the
report on social security for students, which is available in duplicated
form, will also be disti'ibuted in the universities of Member States.
21. It also considers that to facilitate research everything should
be done to make available the main European library catalogues,
especially b y microfilming. This will be a most valuable tool for
research workers, who would thereby be able to refer to the catalogues
of libraries in other countries which have not been printed. In
the same way a general catalogue should be prepared of theses accepted
in the different universities of the member countries.
1.5 Miscellaneous activities of the Cultural Committee
22. It would be most unfair to make no reference to the
other cultural activities of Western European Union, the importance
of j which will not be overlooked b y your Committee. The Sub-committees
on secular education, youth, cinema, television and broadcasting,
and cultural relations, have continued their activities during the
period covered by this report.
23. In the field of school education, teachers' courses have continued.
A course for teachers concerned with technical and professional
education was held in Germany and this year a course for teachers
with the theme " Music, Art and Poetry in the School " will be held
in the United Kingdom. A visit to Germany of educational inspectors
of member countries will take place in 1957 and will deal with the
instructional value of audio-visual aids.
24. The research which had been undertaken by the working group
on the equivalence of school-leaving certificates has been extended
to the Council of Europe, and that is why since 1955 the Cultural
Committee decided not to continue this study. The question A 3 of
the General Affairs Committee is thus answered
Note . Finally, in 1956, the Sub-committee
on school education examined the question of school building and improvement
in the Benelux countries.
25. The Youth Sub-committee has held a number of conferences of
experts on " Sociological Problems of the Young Girl at Work ",
on " Young People's Problems arising out of Military Service " and,
finally, on " Living Reading " . In 1957 three courses are being
planned on aesthetic training outside school, on the results obtained
by physical exercise and sport for maladjusted and handicapped children
and on the training of children with regard to traffic problems.
No doubt the second of these courses in preparation is the most important,
and it would be desirable for effective co-operation to be arranged
with the Social Sub-committee concerned with a similar subject.
Your Committee welcomes the measures recommended and adopted for simplifying
frontier formalities for student groups and also welcomes the development
of exchanges of young workers organised along with exchanges of
young students. Your Committee would wish to know whether measures
have been taken to extend to Germany and Italy the agreement on
collective passports concluded in 1952 between the five countries
of the Brussels Treaty. If it is not already being arranged this
extension should be achieved in the near future.
26. Among the activities of the coming year which are worth mentioning
is the course on training children with regard to traffic problems
which is to be held in Germany. This is a concrete activity which
will meet a real and pressing requirement.
27. The same laboratory role is to be found in the Cinema Sub-committee,
of which the working party on children's films has transmitted its
conclusions to UNESCO. Your Committee took particular note of the forthcoming
production of the film December, the Children's Month, which has
already been referred to in a previous report. It would like to
have an opportunity of seeing this film when completed and to have
full information concerning its distribution circuit. The activities
undertaken to extend the use of the cinema in the field of geographical
education seem interesting and worthy of extension to other sciences,
especially to geology and to botany.
28. In the matter of newsreels the Committee would like to know
why no further exchange of lists of newsreels shown commercially
has taken place since 1954.
29. Once again it is gratifying to see that the trilingual glossary
on the cinema undertaken by Western European Union is to be continued
by UNESCO, which will also continue a general index of cultural
and educational films produced in the different countries. Your
Rapporteur has already gone into the reasons why the activities
of the Committee in the field of broadcasting and television have
not been actively continued. Your Committee regrets that the activities
of the Cultural Committee in this field should be limited to experimental work.
It would wish that exchanges or purchases of films for school television
should be made by member countries as soon as possible. An important
task could thereby be carried out—lessons could be learned from American
television which could be applied to European television; obstacles
encountered across the i Atlantic could be avoided, and perhaps
a common television policy in Western Europe could be arranged.
30. Your Committee would like to have further information on
the Brussels Appeal for the creation of a European cultural community.
It would like to know the conclusions reached by the Cultural Committee following
on studies it has carried out on this subject so as to be able to
consider this question which should, in its opinion, be placed on
its agenda.
1.6 Reply of the Council to Recommendation No. 2
31. The General Affairs Committee notes the reply b y
the Council to its Recommendation No. 2 and welcomes the answers
there given. It would wish, however, that the Council should accede
in the near future to the wish of the Committee to complete and
translate into German and Italian the cultural publications of the organisation.
It observes that only £ 100 is devoted to pamphlets in the budget
: this sum is clearly insufficient for a suitable distribution of
the reports and pamphlets of the Cultural Committee.
32. In order to summarize its principal works in one short text,
the Committee submits to the Assembly the following draft Recommendation
:
2 Draft Recommendation on the activities of the
Council in the cultural field
The Assembly,
Having studied the report of its General Affairs Committee
on the activities of the Council in the cultural field;
Welcoming the concrete results obtained by the Council in
this field;
Considering once more that culture is one of the principal
means of European integration,
Recommends to the Council that it should continue its cultural
activities in the same spirit and by the same means, and, in particular
:
a arrange for the translation
into all the languages of Member States the pamphlets published
by Western European Union, and for this purpose increase the budgetary
provision for this work;
b study the possibility of microfilming the catalogues of
the main European libraries;
c extend the 1952 agreement on collective passports to
Germany and Italy;
d extend the cultural activities of the Council in the
field of radio and television and, more especially, study the possibility
of close collaboration with regard to television policy in Western
Europe;
e submit to the Assembly its conclusions on the Brussels
Appeal for the creation of a European Cultural Community.
3 Draft Reply to the social chapter (Rapporteur
: M. MONTINI)
3.1 Introduction
33. In a previous report of your Committee on the activities
of Western European Union in the social field an attempt was made
to see whether the social achievements of the Organisation were
in accordance with the letter and spirit of the Brussels Treaty.
The length of the chapter of the Second Report of the Council submitted to
your Committee—that relating to social activities—demonstrates the
interest which the Council takes in these questions. Twenty pages
of a report fifty-seven pages long are devoted to social questions,
and your Committee is glad to say that it is in full agreement with
the Council's attitude in this respect. It was interested to read
the balance-sheet which has been prepared of the social work undertaken
since the signature of the Brussels Treaty. In going beyond this
objective, however, it is important not to reach a point where what
is being done today, what was done last year, or what it is proposed
to do is lost sight of. Your Committee has taken careful note of
the work accomplished. It hopes that in the future what is really
new in the work could be shown up in the Council's Report, so that
the Assembly may be able to give more effective help to the Council.
The exchange of views between the Assembly and the Council must
not be restricted by too formal or too academic a procedure, but
must become genuinely parliamentary in its nature. The Assembly
brings a new aspect to the work of the Organisation. It will not
fulfil its role b y merely taking note of proposals, or achievements
of the executive, but by taking positive action which will further
the social policy of Western European Union. It is in this light
that your Committee sees the role of the Assembly in the social
field.
34. Your Committee has taken good note of the fact that " The
aim of the work of the committees is to reach results which, through
application b y the national administration, may influence the development
of social policy and practice in all the countries " . It considers
that this is, in fact, a sound method. It hopes that the Council
will see that the results of the work of the Committees are implemented
by the Member States. But the work of the Committees is, nevertheless,
in a field somewhat remote from that of parliamentarians; it would
be useful for the work to be carried on at other levels than that
of the bureaucrats. Would it not be easier for a convention to be
accepted and ratified in the national parliaments if the Representatives
to the Assembly had been associated with the preparatory work of
the Committees?
35. Your Committee had asked the Council what measures it intended
to take to extend the social activities of the Brussels Treaty Organisation
Note .
The reply of the Council is satisfactory 2 insofar as it concerns
the creation of new sub-committees to meet new requirements and
to undertake new tasks. The two new Member States have acceded to
various agreements concluded in the framework of the Brussels Treaty
Organisation. The list given in the Report is most encouraging.
But here, once again, collaboration between the Council and the
Assembly must be extended. The Brussels Treaty did not provide for
an Assembly. That is the novelty introduced by the Paris Agreements,
and the aspect therefore in connection with which new work must
be undertaken.
36. This increase in the activity of the Social Division leads
your Committee to wonder whether the three officials provided for
in the Budget of this Division can really sustain the enormous burden
of three large Committees and eleven sub-committees and working
groups— and leads him further to wonder what sort of liaison can
be maintained with the Assembly services.
37. Concerning the publicity given to the social activities of
Western European Union in reply to a question put down b y your
Committee 1 the Council is no doubt right in recalling that the
aim of its activities is to develop a policy through intergovernmental
contacts. Your Committee is aware of the difficulty of interesting
the general public in technical and limited social activities. It
would wish, however, to see some effort made to explain to the peoples
of Western Europe that Western European Union is working for the
construction of Europe in the social field. As your Rapporteur stated
in his first Report the organisation has political aims : " i. e.
social questions should hold a primary place in the life and future
work of the Organisation ".
38. But there is also an information aspect itself of some importance;
this concerns the " public relations of Western European Union "
for effective collaboration with other institutions working in the
same field, and thus avoiding any duplication. It is to ensure collaboration
between these agencies that it is necessary for the publicity given
to the work of the Committees to take the form of continual contacts,
without awaiting the drafting of formal documents.
39. In the draft reply to the Report of the Council your Committee
endeavoured to shed light on various current social activities of
the Organisation which it considered important in the fields of
Public Health, the Rehabilitation and Re-employment of the Disabled,
and Social Questions.
3.1.1 Public Health
40. Your Committee hopes that the Assembly will note
the original nature of the Public Health Committee of Western European
Union. It functions in a field which is not well known and which
rarely attracts public attention. Moreover, the World Health Organisation
with its well-staffed and widely distributed services has better
facilities for making itself known than has the WEU intergovernmental
Committee. Your Committee would like to know what collaboration
there is between U. N. I. C. E. F. and your Organisation in the
field of help to children. This is one more reason for welcoming
the information given by the Council in its Annual Report
Note which states that the Organisation
has set up a single " Health Control Territory " . Could not this undertaking
be extended to other fields? As the Report says, this is a considerable
advance in facilitating the free movement of persons in the member
countries.
41. In a previous r e p o r t 2 your Committee was exercised
concerning the activity of the Sub-committee on the Public Health
aspects of the peaceful uses of Atomic Energy. It is gratified to
learn that two reports have been examined which make proposals on
the principles that could serve as a basis for common legislation
in this field in the seven member countries.
42. Alongside the activity of this Subcommittee the Working Party
on " the harmonisation of Atomic Legislation " has examined problems
requiring solution by international agreement.
43. In the field of the peaceful use of nuclear energy, the activities
of these Subcommittees and Working Parties are most important. These
activities are, in fact, a sort of supplement to any future action
by the European Community for Atomic Energy. Care must be taken
to see that in this field the work of Euratom and Western European
Union is not conducted on a different basis. And the fact that the
United Kingdom is participating, with all the experience it has
gained in the field of atomic energy, is a source of great satisfaction, inasmuch
as it may constitute the beginning of a genuine association between
the six Euratom States and the United Kingdom. It should be noted
that in this field an activity that may be of paramount importance
has been undertaken, and your Committee hopes that the Council will
continue to pay full attention to it. Your Committee is waiting
to receive the promised general Report on health questions raised
by the use of nuclear energy
Note.
44. The Working Group on the Employment of Poisonous Substances
in Agriculture began its work last November. It is clear that its
results cannot be very spectacular. But this is the type of activity
in which W. E. U. should excel. In this way it can make a basic
contribution to the construction of Europe.
45. In the fight against cancer your Committee would like to see
a special working group set up.
46. The Franco-Saar Conventions of 1950 and 1953 constituted an
important contribution to the classiffication of pharmaceutical
products. Would it not be possible for the Sub-committee to benefit
from this experience and for it to be extended to other Member States?
3.1.2 Resettlement and rehabilitation of the disabled
47. The WEU Joint Committee on the Resettlement and Rehabilitation
of the Disabled is working in a field of manifest social and human
interest. Western Europe is insufficiently aware of the number of
persons affected by the activities of this Committee. In this connection
it must be recalled that wardisabled in the seven countries of Western
European Union are numbered in millions.
48. These men are entitled not only to the respect and gratitude
of their fellow-citizens. They have a right to expect some effort
to be made to allow them to lead a full life in society.
49. It is also necessary to take into account the possibilities
of liberating workers by the employment of these disabled. The adequate
employment of the disabled is not only a necessary and humane work—it
also holds out economic advantages. The Committee has considered
the exchange and free circulation of the disabled from one country
to another as need arises. Your Committee requests the Council to
give this important problem all the attention it requires. A concrete
contribution is made to the construction of Europe whenever results
affecting thousands of men can be achieved. And it is especially
satisfactory that the victims of the great European tragedies should
be among the first to benefit from European unity.
50. Your Committee also hopes that study courses for physiotherapists
may be organised between Member States, because of the great diversity
of current methods and on account of the benefits which such an exchange
of views would bring.
3.1.3 Social questions
51. Your Committee sounded a warning in its previous
Report on the social policy of Western European Union. It was concerned
at the Council's silence on activities which seemed to it to be
of the greatest importance. He had noted that the harmonisation
of social charges should be furthered in order to advance the European
idea.
52. It seems to your Committee that the Social Committee, which
is composed of senior officials responsible for social policy in
the Member States, is an embryo of a " social Europe ", or, if you
like, a " European social community " . No doubt periodical meetings
should eventually be arranged between the seven Ministers for Social
Questions of which the Permanent Council would be composed of senior
officials. The Social Committee is already playing a considerable
role and should become the " policy-making Committee " in social
matters. It is important that the Social Committee should develop
the social services at the same time. Your Committee expresses the
wish that the Council will do everything in its power to encourage
the harmonisation of social policies.
53. Your Committee is greatly appreciative of the information
which the Council has supplied on conventions, recommendations and
resolutions of the International Labour Organisation. It would be
glad to receive the collective report referred to in the Report
Note which has already been communicated
to the experts dealing with the problems of the European Common
Market.
54. This year the Social Committee Avill deal especially with
the question of family maintenance, which affects the free movement
of labour. This is, in fact, a very pressing question. Everything
affecting the free movement of human beings in Europe is of concern
to your Committee.
55. That is why your Rapporteur has especially noted the progress
achieved in the Convention on Social Security. Eight of the ten
bilateral Conventions are in force. It is to be hoped that this
will be extended. He would like to know what progress had been made
in drafting a European Social Security Convention and requests the
Council to expedite the negotiations.
56. These questions of social security are extremely important.
They will become all the more important when the European Common
Market is set up. It would be disastrous if the activities undertaken
b y W. E. U. in associating Great Britain with the six countries
were to lapse through the opening of a general Common Market, when
the aim of Western European Union should be to widen and complete
the Market.
57. The intergovernmental nature of the Ministerial side of the
Organisation should, in the opinion of your Committee, make it possible
to arrange an exchange of information on manpower requirements both
as regards skills and numbers. Some Member States suffer from a
labour shortage. It would be desirable for them to be able to satisfy
their requirements as far as possible b y drawing on the resources
of their partners. And for this purpose the Manpower Sub-committee
which has operated as a clearing-house for demand and supply of
labour, should direct its energies towards a general policy of facilities
for the movement of workers between the seven countries, the whole
linked to a scheme for training workers. Everything accomplished
by the Council in this field is welcomed with interest by your Committee,
which hopes that this is only a starting-point.
58. Your Committee is not unaware that this topic raises a political
problem. In fact, it approaches the question from a political standpoint
with all necessary caution but from a perspective which may be invaluable to
the cause of united Europe. The training of young workers in countries
with surplus labour should be directed to meeting requirements which
are revealed elsewhere. Possible employing countries should perhaps contribute
to the cost of the schooling and vocational training of these young,
people, while the country of origin could guarantee the stability
of employment in the event of a return to the country of origin
becoming necessary.
59. In its previous Report your Committee had suggested, that
a " European Social Statistics Institute " should be set up in order
to supply social statistics in the seven countries on the basis
of common standards which would render the statistics readily comparable.
The Committee notes the reply of the Council but is not entirely
satisfied with it. It requests the Council to give closer consideration
to this question, which seems to it to be extremely important.
Reply to Recommendation No.
4 of the Assembly
60. Your Committee has examined most carefully the reply
to Recommendation No. 4. It hopes that the participation of all
members in the " multilateral agreements in the process of being
extended" may be rapidly arranged. And your Committee wonders whether
it would not be possible for the Assembly to be closely associated
with this activity, especially by its being informed of the list
of conventions and of the Members who have already ratified, so
that action may be undertaken in the national parliaments to promote
ratification.
3.2 Conclusion
61. Not only is the Report of the Council on social activities
important, but it also demonstrates the necessity of making use
of Western European Union and especially of the Assembly—i . e.
its parliamentary organ—to undertake, using the flexible framework
of intergovernmental co-operation between countries with comparable social
structures, tasks of importance for the future of Europe. Your Committee
welcomes the valuable information given to it. It is glad to observe
that the Council, like your Committee, attaches importance to social activities
in the general framework of the activities of Western European Union.
The place accorded to these activities should, however, be more
important, and your Committee asks the Assembly to show proof of
its will to achieve the social objectives which will assure a high
level of social development for Europe and thereby constitute a
fit and proper reason for undertaking its construction.
62. In order to summarize its principal wishes in a short text
the Committee submits to the Assembly the following draft Recommendation.
4 Draft Recommendation
The Assembly,
Considering the need to ensure that the social organisation
of Europe is developed in step with its economic organisation;
Considering the forthcoming creation of the European Economic
Community and the European Community for Atomic Energy;
Considering the remarkable work undertaken by Western European
Union in the social field and the need to continue it in ever more
concrete terms,
Recommends that the Council :
1 Institute a study of the harmonisation of social charges
between the seven Member States after the ratification of the Treaty
setting up the European Economic Community;
2 Undertake a complete study of matters concerning the quality
and quantity of nutrition, with a view, particularly, to applying
the results in the underdeveloped areas of Europe;
3 Arrange detailed examination of the question of vocational
training of young workers with a general policy of migration in
mind;
4 Reinforce the staff of the Social Division of the Secretariat-General.
