EUROPEAN ARMY PLAN DEFENDED: COUNCIL OF EUROPE TO ACT

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 August 1950, Page 5

EUROPEAN ARMY PLAN DEFENDED: COUNCIL OF EUROPE TO ACT

PARIS, August 12.—The Belgian Socialist leader, Mr Paul Spaak, speaking as President of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, today defended the conception of a European army which was sprung on the Assembly yesterday by Mr Churchill. At the present conference, at the end of the Assembly’s first week- of debates, Mr Spaak said: “The present situation in defence is not logical. Every country at the moment, is doing what it wishes —one kind oi training, one kind of conscription. M. Spaak supported the idea of appointing a European Minister of Defence, first put to the Assembly by the French representative, M. Paul Reynard. n , Asked if the machinery under such a Ministry would not overlap with the existing Atlantic Pact and Brussels Treaty machinery, M. Spaak said: “The Atlantic Pact and the Brussels Pact are on paper. Some life must be given to this through some such personality as is envisaged in the idea of a European Minister of Defence. “We have already had two world wars which have shown us that democracies always hesitate. Why, therefore, wait this time? Why not let us plan calmly before the danger is actually upon us? “There is no way to solve our problems except through personal responsibility. This is what the Committee of Ministers wants to avoid. No one wants to be pinned down. They want everything in committee so that no one knows who is responsible.” M. Spaak said the Assembly resolution represented the spirit of revolt against so many committees.