AT STRASBOURG T HERE'S no lobby-fodder in Strasbourg. No Whips feed
delegates into the voting-machine. Everyone present must make up his own mind, as to whether he will say " Yes," - No," or " Abstain." And as the vote usually follows the French system of a public appel nominal. some delegates have to think harder than they do in their national parliaments.
But even the lucidity of M. Spaak, Europe's best chairman, has been insufficient to clarify some of the votes. When M. Mollet presented the Report of the General Affairs Committee to the Assembly, several members stated that they had reservations about its details but wanted to vote for it as a whole. M. Mollet asked for unreserved support. In the bilingual confusion that followed his statement, several British Labour delegates who in an explication de vote had declared their wish to support him (with reservations), felt obliged to abstain ; while certain Scandinavian members who had announced similar misgivings, voted " Yes." M. Mollet, France's Minister of European Affairs, seemed all the more hurt by his Labour colleagues' attitude, because one of their main doubts concerned the recommendation in the Report for the creation of Ministers of European Affairs.
* * * * With the departure of Mr. Churchill, the Assembly lost a good deal of its drama. A thin " floor " and a crowded gallery has made the Chamber look for the last few days rather like the House of Commons on a Friday afternoon. But there remain a few orators who were able to fire the Assembly during the General Affairs Debate. M. Philip, the French Socialist, with his full but controlled voice, his shapely sentences and his amorphous proposals, was one of these. M. Bidault, the M.R.P. leader, restrained, ironiz and precise, was another. By contrast, the Italians, from whom the Assembly expected great rhetoric were uniformly dull. Perhaps it is the limitation of having to speak French which makes so despair- ing a mumble of their speeches.
Among the speeches of the British representatives, Mr. Mac- millan's speech on the Schuman Plan has been the only one in the classical tradition of European oratory. In the House of Commons, even a Bossuet might be punctured by a ribald interruption ; Mr. Macmillan has frequently been frustrated in his effects by govern- ment supporters more concerned with matter than with style. But the Consultative Assembly is different from the House of Commons. The Commons are restless, talkative, only ready to listen to noble and rhetorical sentiments on exceptional occasions. The Assembly is more or less a captive audience, anxious to hear oratorical tours de force. By those standards, a Turkish delegate thought Mr. Macmillan superior to Mr. Churchill.
* * * * For most of the week, the Assembly has been working through its Committees—General Affairs, Economic, Social, Cultural, Rules and Privileges, and Legal. The procedure is that resolutions sub- mitted in main debates are sent to the Committees for their, recommendation to the General Assembly in a winding-up debate. Mr. Churchill's resolution in favour of a European Army, designed more as a gesture to Europe than as a detailed proposal, was sent to the Defence Sub-Committee of the General Affairs Committee, where it gave rise to some bewilderment. Happily, the difficulties were solved by a scowl from London that resulted in the withdrawal of an amplified version of the plan, drawn up by Mr.
Sandys. . • * * * *
The Assembly will adjourn before its statutory life of one month ends. In other words, it may be reconvened for a short session later in the year. The Committee of Ministers designed the Standing Orders so that the Assembly should meet once a year. What may be called the Committee of Ex-Ministers, led by M. Reynaud, has long been agitating, if not for a permanent session of the Assembly, at least for more frequent meetings. By the new decision, they have gained their point of having an extra session. No one is less pleasedirby the prospect than some British representatives whose marching-orders seem likely to be, " Every vacation a session."
MAURICE EDELMAN.
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