EUROPE WITHOUT ENGLAND
FOR a birthday party, it has not been very festive; at ten years of age the Council of Europe is still struggling not merely for recog- nition but for survival. In theory its prospects ought to be good; with every year that passes the importance of unity in Europe is increased. But nobody who has watched it since birth has much faith in the child. Hopes have sunk a long way since 1949—or, better, 1950, the year when a united Europe appeared closer than it has done before or since; when the Assembly met in an access of confidence which it has not since man.: aged to regain.
Strasbourg that year attracted a remarkable gathering of parliamentarians, some already famous, some on their way up. The English team, for example, was led by Sir Winston (not officially, as Labour was still in office; but in effect); on the Tory side were such names as Boothby, Eccles, Hollis, Sandys; and Labour had Dr. Hugh Dalton in charge, with support from Callaghan, Crosland, Edelman. Among the French were Bidault, Mollet, Philip, Reynaud; the Germans made their first tentative re-entry into polite European sotiety; and M. Spaak was chosen to preside. Attendance was not then, as it has since tended to become, a party perquisite (MPs complain that the Whips hold out the promise of a holiday at Strasbourg not for those who have worked hardest for European unity, but for those whose division record is most satisfactory); most of the delegates who were there in 1950 were there because they were interested, in some cases passionately con- cerned with the future of Europe. Yet they failed to get the Council off the ground.
This was not simply because of Ernest Bevin's obstruction, though that was not without its im- portance. Bevin arrived at Strasbourg grey with illness and impatience; events soon showed he had an almost childish aversion to the whole business. He regarded the Assembly as a Tory plaything whose freedom ought to be restricted; if he could not tell it what to discuss he could, he hoped, at least tell it what not to discuss, and he did his best to emasculate it from the start. His attempt to prevent a debate, on defence failed; but his hostile attitude 'helped to revive the mood of impatience, sometimes of bitterness, with which the French, particularly, regard the English in such circumstances. To make matters worse the English delegation was hopelessly divided—not simply on party lines : Mr, Sandys 'put forward a defence plan which was promptly repudiated by his own side, to the undisguised delight of Dr. Dalton. English 'heel-dragging,' as it came to be called, helped to foster the attitude of mind which, has since led to the 'Six' going it alone, without worrying overmuch what the English reaction will be.
This might have happened anyway: already in 1950 the struggle between the Functionalists (the English, particularly, who wanted to build a united Europe by gradual social and economic co-operation without any loss of national authority) and the Federalists (led by the French, who were anxious to create a supra-national authority) was apparent; a contest in which Federalists have since had their way, their latest victory being the Common Market. But Bevin's supercilious attitude, and to a lesser extent the attitude of the Labour delegation, may be held partly responsible for the trend towards easing Britain out of Europe rather than taking pains to keep her in.
The fundamental weakness of the Council, though, has been its inability to take under its wing all the bodies whose work it tends unneces- sarily to duplicate. There was general recogni- tion that to have three separate structures —the Council of Europe, the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation—was absurdly wasteful; but as OEEC and NATO had no assembly, it could be argued that the Council had one distinct and valuable function. But with the appearance of the Western European Union, which had an assembly of ninety-odd members from seven nations, and the Coal and Steel Com- munity, which had an assembly of eighty-odd members from six nations, the status of the Coun- cil grew more insecure. By growing up, its brain- children were making their parent's existence unnecessary.
Yet the Council of Europe cannot be said to have failed. Undoubtedly it created, as well as reflected, the mood in which the present inter- national co-operation on innumerable levels in Europe could be introduced. That the Coal and Steel Community and the Common Market exist is largely because of the work done, the contacts established, in the Council. When last year M. Robert Schuman was elected President of the European Assembly of the 'Six' it was not simply a gesture of homage to him; it was also a declara- tion of independence by that Assembly from mini- sterial fiats (the Foreign Ministers of the 'Six' had earlier agreed on an Italian president) which would have been impossible if the Assembly of the CouRcil of Europe had not earlier shown the way. It is not impossible—though regrettably it is unlikely—that some means will be found to give the Council the functions it needs to become something more than a back-benchers' holiday camp.
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