HC Deb 17 December 1947 vol 445 cc1685-9
28. Mr. Wilson Harris

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign. Affairs what steps are being taken to develop cooperative economic action between the 16 European nations which accepted the Marshall Plan.

29. Colonel J. R. H. Hutchison

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what steps have been taken, or will be taken, by this country in the direction of proposing to the other 15 nations signatories to the Marshall Plan Report to set up an administrative body to administer the Plan; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Bevin

As the answer is rather long, I will, with permission circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Mr. Wilson Harris

Is the right hon. Gentleman satisfied that everything that might be done is being done in this regard, in view of the stress laid on the Harvard speech, and the opinion which is obviously prevelant in the United States that Europe is rather hanging back in this matter?

Mr. Bevin

I do not agree that Europe is hanging back. Europe is in a very difficult position. It is difficult for Europe to know what steps to take until Congress has taken its decision, but we are moving with great speed and I do not think we can be accused in Europe of being slow in taking advantage of the Harvard speech.

Colonel Hutchison

Would the right hon. Gentleman agree that it will, in the main, facilitate the Marshall Plan to have some sort of administrative body set up in advance, so that when the Plan is agreed on the other side there will be somebody to function?

Mr. Bevin

Yes, but that depends on how Congress lays down the conditions. We do not know whether Congress will lay down conditions so that, although there is a global allocation, it may have to be bilaterally negotiated, and we cannot anticipate what the final decision of Congress will be. That is the great difficulty which we are seeking to overcome at the present moment.

Mrs. Leah Manning

May I ask my right hon. Friend whether the European Committee for Economic Co-operation which already exists is to be used for this purpose?

Mr. Bevin

I do not think so directly in connection with the Marshall aid, because the Economic Commission for Europe covers Europe as a whole, and a large number of the countries in Europe have contracted entirely out and have refused to co-operate in this aid.

Mr. Henry Usborne

Is it true that a majority of the 16 nations were anxious to see a fully-fledged customs union created, and is it also true that the British representative opposed that?

Mr. Bevin

No, it is not true. What we did was to point out that Britain cannot be exclusively a member of a customs union of Europe. As I have explained so many times, the contribution to the equilibrium of this country from Europe is about 25 per cent., and the great bulk of our trade and commerce is with the Commonwealth and with outside countries. Therefore, our endeavour is to do what we can to assist a European customs union, and at the same time to do what we can to maintain the external trade of this country, in order that our prosperity may be secured.

Mr. Lipson

May I ask the Foreign Secretary if his answers mean that no plan or plans have been made in advance in anticipation of Congress agreeing to grant aid to Europe?

Mr. Bevin

We are like a military organisation—it depends on how the other forces move which plan we bring out.

Mr. Lipson

Then there are plans?

Mr. Bevin

Certainly.

Following is the answer:

As I stated in the House on 9th December, the Governments which participated in the Paris Conference are not in a position to take steps to set up the joint organisation to review progress in the execution of the European Recovery Programme until the means for carrying out that programme are made available. I should like, however, to assure the hon. Member that His Majesty's Government, for their part are resolved at the appropriate time to play their full part, in association with the French Government, their co-sponsors of the Paris Conference, in the establishment and operation of such an organisation, which they are convinced will be necessary and which will be an important and responsible factor in the carrying through of the European Recovery Programme. In the meantime, our policy is to participate to the fullest possible extent in the continued joint study of the specific problems to which I shall refer in a moment and also to engage, whenever opportunity offers, in consultations with other countries in an effort to relieve the economic ills of Europe.

2. We also feel that if members of the Committee of European Economic Co-operation are to receive generous assistance from the United States and perhaps other countries in the Western Hemisphere, in order to enable them to regain their economic stability, it is only natural that they should be called upon in return so to organise themselves that the assistance received is fully and effectively utilised.

3. Meanwhile I would like to take this opportunity of pointing out that close consultation and co-operation between the countries concerned is already taking place on a number of specific subjects closely related to the Paris Report and to the fulfilment of the European Recovery Programme.

  1. (i) The Payments Agreements Committee has had two plenary meetings and is pursuing the problem of currency transferability within Europe to the fullest possible extent in the absence of dollar assistance. Machinery has been set up for facilitating compensation transactions between the constituent countries. His Majesty's Government are co-operating in this scheme as occasional members.
  2. (ii) The Customs Union Study Group, at its first meeting in Brussels in November, decided that perhaps the best way of directing attention to the complex problems involved would be to concentrate in the first instance on the question of a common tariff. An examination of this problem is now proceeding and will be reviewed at the next meeting of the Group in January. Meanwhile, His Majesty's Government are making available to the Secretariat of the Customs Union Study Group in Brussels a tariff expert to assist in the study now in progress.
  3. (iii) As envisaged in the Man-Power Report of the Committee, the Italian Government is calling a meeting in January to continue the study of manpower questions as they affect the sixteen countries participating in the Paris Conference.
  4. (iv) In the field of electric power, while the plan sponsored by the Committee must await the provision of equipment, I understand that considerable progress has been made on a European basis with the selection of the most economic hydro-electric prospects in the Alpine-Danubian area, and with a survey in areas of Western and Eastern Europe of low-grade fuel avail-abilities for thermal power stations, together with an examination of the type of power station most suitable technically for use with the fuel available. The results of these surveys will be available shortly.

4. In addition we are continuing to participate fully in the work of the Economic Commission for Europe, at Geneva, which has now taken over the work of the emergency economic committees formerly established in London and Paris. Sub-committees have been set up on steel and manpower, and are likely to get down to business in the New Year. Working parties of the Commission have as suggested in the Paris Report, been examining inland transport problems such as the standardisation of rolling stock, the interchangeability of working parts, flows of traffic and the pooling of freight cars; the recommendations on these problems are likely to be transmitted to Governments in the near future. The timber sub-committee has had one meeting and expects to have another in January.

5. The investigation of mining machinery manufacturing capacity, which the Paris Conference asked the European Coal Organisation to undertake, is being pursued by that Organisation and will be continued by its successor, the Coal Committee of the Economic Commission for Europe.

6. At the same time the United Kingdom, no doubt in common with every country which participated in the Paris Conference, is concentrating its efforts on increasing its own production in order to enable it to play its full part in the programme when this takes effect. It would not, I think, be inappropriate for me to mention that, as regards coal exports, we are beating the timetable of the Paris Report, albeit in small measure, by beginning a modest programme of exports on the 1st January, 1948.