Suchergebnisse

There was announced in Paris, in July, a series of meetings attended by representatives of the eighteen member countries of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC), as well as by representatives of the United States, Canada, and the European Communities, which were concerned with the framework and scope of the new Organization for European Cooperation and Development (OECD), intended to replace OEEC. Discussion centered on whether or not the solution of trade problems should be included as one of the objectives of the future organization, with differences of opinion over the scope of the organization being expressed by proponents of the Europe of the old OEEC versus participants in the European Economic Community (EEC) and others, the former convinced of the need for a European forum of discussion of trade questions, and the latter preferring to work out such problems through the world organization of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). A special report, considered at a previous meeting of the same representatives in May, had recommended the establishment of an organization which was to be largely a consultative body with no definite responsibility for trade questions, but because of disagreement on the part of some of the smaller countries, notably Sweden and Switzerland, a working party had been set up, which, at the July meeting, recommended the establishment of a trade committee, whose task was to be the examination of all trade questions, subject to some liberalization of OEEC obligations.

A report on the work of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, issued in October 1948, summarized progress of the organization so far and the problems which it still faced. Stating that the organization was still on the threshold of European cooperation and that the most difficult problems still remained, the report defined OEEC's task as the achievement, by 1952, of a "satisfactory European economy without extraordinary outside aid." The work of OEEC since its inception had been hampered by the facts that it was the first international organization of its kind, that it had been so quickly forced into programming aid requirements of participating countries that there had been no time for organizational problems, and that during a fairly long initial period it had not had close contact with the United States Economic Cooperation Administration since neither the administrator nor his special representative in Europe had been appointed. Despite these hindrances, however, OEEC had drawn up programs covering aid requirements of the nineteen member nations for the third and fourth quarters of 1948, the first annual program, a long-term program, and a first progress report on cooperation and economic recovery. OEEC had also undertaken to recommend to ECA actual distribution of aid between participating countries, a task which it was originally assumed would belong to ECA.

A summary of its activities in 1950 was released by the Organization for European Economic Cooperation in January 1951. During the first two years of its establishment, the report stated, OEEC had been essentially an instrument for the distribution of United States aid but then became increasingly an instrument of cooperation for the solution of European economic problems. In two years, European production had been restored, trade had almost entirely recovered and international financial stability was achieved. The establishment of a European Payments Union was considered one of the main achievements of OEEC during 1950.

The Council of OEEC at its tenth session which opened in Paris on December 28, 1948, studied and adopted the report on the 1949–50 Program and the interim report on the European Recovery Program. The Council instructed the Secretary-General to submit the interim report to the Economic Cooperation Administration of the United States. In adopting this report the members of the Organization reaffirmed their intention to achieve a joint European Recovery Program and invited members to examine methods for initiating the necessary action to attain this objective, in particular those mentioned in the interim report, and to inform the Organization before January 31, 1949 of their preliminary conclusions.

The third survey of European Economic Cooperation prepared for the Council of Europe by the Organization for European Economic Cooperation was published in May 1952. The survey was presented as an interim report since, in accordance with decisions of the Council of OEEC in March 1952, a number of studies had been undertaken by OEEC results of which would not be available for several months.

The sixteen nations of western Europe participating in the Economic Recovery Program signed on April 16, 1948, a convention formally establishing the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, providing machinery for the handling of European aid, and including a legally binding contract for self-help to supplement and eventually eliminate the need for outside aid. The principal aim of the organization was stated as the speedy establishment of sound economic conditions, without outside assistance, so as to make a full contribution to world economic stability. The sixteen governments and the western zones of Germany pledged their efforts to a maximum exchange of goods, lower tariff barriers, work towards a customs union, achievement and maintenance of financial and monetary stability, and the best use of their manpower.

It was announced by the press in November 1960 that the preparatory committee, which had been considering the aims and structure of the proposed Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to replace the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC), had completed its report and was planning to transmit it to a conference of ministers of the twenty European and North American nations involved in organizing OECD. One of the most difficult problems in reaching agreement was reportedly the refusal of the United States to accept a definite commitment to coordinate its economic policy with those of the other members. A compromise was finally reached, providing that the convention would: 1) bind members, in making their basic economic decisions—on interest rates, for example—to avoid measures that would endanger other countries; and 2) require members to cooperate closely in carrying out the basic aims of the organization and, when necessary, to take coordinated action. In any case, the organization was to be able to take decisions only by unanimity. The proposed structure of the organization, reported to be similar to that of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was to include: 1) a Council on which all member states would be represented by permanent delegations; 2) a Council chairman, who would be selected to serve a one-year term and would preside at ministerial sessions of the Council, and two vice chairmen; and 3) a permanent staff headed by a Secretary-General, who would be chosen for a five-year term and would preside at Council sessions attended by the permanent representatives.

The Council of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, composed of cabinet members of the governments of the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Greece, Norway, Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands, held a series of secret meetings during May and June in an attempt to solve the problem of intra-European trade and the intra-European payments system which was scheduled to end June 30, 1949. The principal objections to the existing payments system were that it was originally formed in a series of bilateral agreements between each of the countries, that the original agreements were based on estimates of the expected balance of payments which had in some cases been erroneous, and that existing quotas had stifled trade.

Additional measures to increase the numbers of scientists and engineers in European countries were agreed upon by the Council of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) in approving the second annual program of the organization's Office for Scientific and Technical Personnel. Potential funds at the disposal of the Office were increased to approximately $1,350,000 in order to put this program into effect. The new program was to comprise courses, seminars, conferences, and improved methods of instruction and experiment which would help the spread of scientific and technological knowledge and new training policies throughout Europe.

The eighth annual report of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC), Europe To-Day and in 1960, was made public in April 1957. The report was divided in three parts: Volume I dealt with Europ to-day, Volume II, with Europe in 1960 and Volume III consisted of surveys of the economic situations in the individual member countries.

An arrangement proposed by the managing board of the European Payments Union to meet the situation which had arisen as a result of Belgium's having granted to other member countries far in excess of its stipulated quota was approved by the Council of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation on October 18, 1951. The plan provided that Belgian excess credits in EPU would be met for the next three months partly by payments in gold and partly by the granting of credit. Possible long-term solutions of the problem were to be investigated by the executive committee, which was to report by the end of the year.

The January 14, 1960, meeting of the Council of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) was preceded by a meeting of representatives of the organization's eighteen members and of the United States and Canada to examine the resolutions adopted by a special economic conference. At this meeting, which ended with approval of a move sponsored by the United States that was designed to reorganize economic cooperation and transform the organization, it was decided, and subsequently approved by the OEEC Council and the United States and Canada, that: 1) four experts, representing respectively North America, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the European Economic Community (EEC) and other European nations, would prepare a report on the transformation of OEEC for consideration by senior officials of twenty countries, namely, the OEEC nations and the United States and Canada, at a meeting scheduled for April 19, 1960; 2) a preparatory meeting of representatives of the same twenty nations would be held in a month's time, when decisions would be taken to appoint a permanent chairman, a secretariat, and working parties to look into outstanding trade problems; and 3) a group, consisting of Canada, France, West Germany, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, the United States, the United Kingdom, and a representative of EEC, would be informally set up to coordinate aid policies to underdeveloped countries. The outcome of the discussions was regarded as paving the way for a new Atlantic economic grouping, composed of the members of OEEC plus the United States and Canada, which would give priority to consideration of the problems between the two rival European economic groups, EEC and EFTA. Other matters discussed by the Council were the removal of discriminatory measures against imports from the dollar zone and the increase in assistance to underdeveloped countries.

The meeting of the Council of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation at Paris on October 6 and 7, 1950 had before it a memorandum submitted by the Secretary-General of the organization (Marjolin) concerned chiefly with the economic problems arising from the new international situation and the threat of inflation as a result of the western rearmament effort. The Secretary-General strongly emphasized collective action by member governments rather than on individual solutions to check inflation before it gathered greater momentum. The Council, using the memorandum as a basis, made decisions on the following present and potential problems: international financial stability, investments, raw material shortages, electrical energy, manpower, trade and payments.

Annual Report: The fifth annual report of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, which was released in January 1954, stressed three developments:) the elimination of inflationary trends of recent years;) the improvement of west Europe's balance of payments, both over-all and with the dollar area; and) the continued failure of western European production to expand at a satisfactory rate. After a brief look at the causes and consequences of the first two of these developments, the report turned its attention to the third and concluded that, unless specific proposals were implemented and if world conditions remained generally the same, European production as a whole would increase only slightly, and Europe's exchange reserves were likely to increase. Several factors which led to these conclusions were:) internal demand was not likely to expand without more expansionary policies by governments;) since export earnings of primary producers were not likely to increase, external demand for European production was similarly not likely to increase; and) United States over-all current surplus, exclusive of all military transactions, would be offset by a new military expenditure abroad of $2.5 billion in 1953 and $2.1 billion in the first half of 1954.