Strasbourg in Perspective

Abstract

An “old hand” who re-visits the Council of Europe and views in retrospect the past eight years of its activities will at first notice many differences from 1949; but on reflection he will wonder whether what he sees are merely distinctions without any substantial difference at all. On the surface there have been considerable changes in the Assembly personnel, particularly in regard to the British delegation, which alters constantly: but, if a number of the larger figures are no longer to be seen there, the core of the Assembly remains the same. And an examination of the list of its members over the eight years shows that the Assembly has been composed largely of the same persons each year, drawn from the same parties, and maintaining still the same outlook which their nationality in the main determines.

Mr. R. W. G. Mackay, a member of the Labour Party group in the Consultative Assembly at the first three sessions, took a leading part in the political and economic deliberations of those years, either as a private member or as rapporteur for the Committee on General Affairs. He was the moving spirit in the ambitious reform proposals made by the Special Committee on revision of the Statute which had been set up by the Assembly at its Session in November, 1950. This Special Committee drew up a Protocol for the amendment of the Statute which, however, was set aside by the Committee of senior officials then acting as Ministers’ advisers. The 1951 Assembly, instead, approved certain Texts of a statutory character, which had been adopted by the Committee of Ministers at its 8th and 9th Sessions. As a Rapporteur of the Committee on General Affairs Mr. Mackay returned to the attack with a Special Report dated 16th October, 1951, embodying Five Proposals for the reform of the Statute, aimed at creating that “European political authority with limited functions but real powers” which was demanded, almost unanimously, by the Representatives at the First Ordinary Session of the Consultative Assembly in 1949. It is the substance of these proposals (1950 and 1951) to which Mr. Mackay refers in this article.