Consultative Assembly The first part of the eighth ordinary session of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe was held in Strasbourg from April 16 to 21, 1956, under the presidency of Mr. Fėrnand Dehousee (Belgium, Socialist). The Council welcomed the representatives of Austria, which had become a full member.

Council It was reported in the press on July 20, 1956 that the west German government was preparing to bring its anxieties about United Kingdom and United States suggestions for a reduction in armed forces before the meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Council, but contrary to expectation, at the July 25 meeting of the Council no reference was made to the reduction of forces. The press did note on July 25 that the United States Secretary of State Dulles gave reassurances to the German ambassador that the United States contemplated no change from the existing number of troops at that time and was still in favor of a German contribution of twelve divisions to NATO. Press reports also noted that the west German government transmitted notes to the members of the Western European Union calling for a review of allied strategy and military planning in view of moves by the United States and United Kingdom to cut their armed forces.

Council The Council of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC), meeting in Paris on June 29, 1956, decided to maintain the European Payments Union (EPU) for another year beginning on July 1, 1956, without any modifications in its rules. The Council also approved bilateral agreements on repayment and liquidation concluded by some EPU members. The Council met again in Paris from July 17 to 19, under the chairmanship of Mr. Harold Macmillan (United Kingdom); among the major questions discussed were nuclear energy and trade liberalization. Prior to the meeting, press reports indicated that the United Kingdom had refused an invitation from the west German government to discuss a flexible exchange rate for sterling, stating that the United Kingdom government saw no useful purpose to be served in an international discussion of the exchange value of sterling. During the Council session the ministers had before them a report and proposal dealing with 1) the need for the OEEC countries to achieve a degree of free trade abolishing quantitative restrictions to the extent of 90 percent or more; 2) the possibility of consolidating that degree of liberalization; and 3) the desire of the low tariff countries in Europe to see this quantitative liberalization accompanied by tariff reductions.

Settlements in EPU for the period May through July 1956 showed the German Federal Republic retaining the strongest creditor position. Austria, which showed a small surplus in June, had a larger one in July, while Italy moved from a substantial deficit in June to a surplus in July. France continued to have the largest monthly deficit; second was the United Kingdom, which showed a surplus in May, a deficit in June and a significantly larger deficit in July. Since December 1955, France had covered its deficits fully in gold payments, but in July 1956 it resorted to the 25 percent EPU credit to which it was entitled. Belgium and Luxembourg retained strong creditor positions.

CouncilCosta Rica–Nicaragua Situation: At a special meeting of the Council on January 10, 1955, the representative of Costa Rica requested the Council to take action to protect Costa Rica's territorial integrity and sovereignty from intervention by the government of Nicaragua, by convoking a Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, pursuant to Article 6 of the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, to act as Organ of Consultation in the matter. The Council had referred a similar request for action on April 21, 1954 back to the two countries for direct negotiations. The representative of Costa Rica charged that his country had tried to settle the dispute by direct negotiation and mediation, but that groups had meanwhile been trained and mobilized for invasion. The representative of Nicaragua stated in reply that the Costa Rican accusations were baseless and that President Figueros of Costa Rica was using them to rouse his people's patriotism and gain support for his regime. After prolonged discussion the Council decided to hold a meeting on January 12 to study the matter further and take suitable action; in the meantime the governments of Costa Rica and of Nicaragua were asked to refrain from acts likely to aggravate the controversy.

The military staff planners of the eight countries members of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) met at Singapore beginning June 11, 1956, to discuss the task of bringing military planning under SEATO to a point where a permanent planning group might be formed. According to press reports, the group was concerned about the feeling that SEATO lacked concrete accomplishments. Recommendations formulated by the planners were to be put before a later meeting of the military advisers to the SEATO Council.1

Common Assembly An extraordinary session of the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was held in Brussels from March 13 to 16, 1956; the session was opened by Mr. Spaak, Belgian Foreign Minister, who presented a preliminary report of the Brussels Intergovernmental Committee of which he was chairman on the proposed common market and on Eura-tom. After reviewing the Committee's proposals, Mr. Spaak said that the final problem for the common market was that of institutions; Mr. Spaak told the Assembly that the experts had proposed an executive with a limited field of action but sufficient powers to implement a common market treaty. The executive was to work by majority decisions; it would take decisions on the elimination of subsidies and other supports and apply safeguard provisions during the period of transition.

The International Sugar Council held a special session in London on July 30 and 31, 1956; it revised its estimate of free market requirements for 1956 to 5,050,000 metric tons, 530,000 metric tons more than a previous provisional estimate. The Council decided to increase export quotas to the full basic export tonnages of 4,440,000 metric tons and also to waive the obligation placed on governments under the Agreement not to ship more than 80 percent of their initial export quotas before August 31. The Council decided to hold its next meeting in Geneva early in October, immediately preceding the second session of the UN Sugar Conference.

At the first meeting of the International Tin Council, held in London in July 1956, it was agreed that September 15, 1956, would be the date from which producing countries would begin to make their contributions to the buffer stock. The producing countries announced their intention to make their initial contributions in cash rather than in stock, because payments were based on the tin floor price, which was below the current market price at the time of the meeting. All the main producing countries had become members by the time of the meeting. The Council decided to open its next meeting on October 15, 1956.