Letter from Seán MacBride to Ernest Bevin (London)

Dear Ernie,
At the last meeting of the OEEC, a Special Committee consisting of the members of the Executive with the addition of Spaak and myself was appointed for the purpose of examining how best a greater degree of economic co-operation could be achieved in Western Europe. To a degree, I think that the forming of the Special Committee was prompted by a feeling that a somewhat wider view of the functions of the OEEC should be visualised. It was felt that, apart from the division of American Aid and the formulation of programmes for the ECA, the question of integrating the economy of Western Europe required a more energetic approach.

I have felt throughout that far more practicable than political or military alliances is economic co-operation with a view to the rebuilding of the economy of Western Europe in such a way as to avoid many of the conflicts that have caused friction in the past. After all, before the concept of a political Federation can gain ground, it seems to me that a greater degree of economic co-operation would be required. I had hoped that the OEEC might provide a framework for the development of such a degree of economic co-operation.

There is, at the moment, a danger that the OEEC will become 'just another one' of the great many International Organisations that turn out a mass of documentation and statistics but that do not form a rallying point for the people of Europe. The people of Europe - and indeed, of the world - hear a lot about the dangers of war and of the threat of Communism. Is it now time that we should let them know that there is a serious and definite plan for their economic betterment, upon which we are all agreed?

I had hoped that the OEEC will, in effect, become a kind of Economic Government for Western Europe. If it should succeed, it will materially help co-operation on a political level in Western Europe; if it fails, or if it is futile, it will be a setback to the whole concept of European co-operation. To succeed, it must have a more dynamic approach and must capture European imagination.

I do not know to what extent you will agree with those general views, or to what extent they fit in with the policy of the British Government. But I thought that I should write to you and keep you informed of our views in the matter.

I was rather hoping that the meeting of the Special Committee could be held quite informally without papers or agenda so that there could be a completely free exchange of views. I was also hoping that it would be possible to hold it somewhere in the country where we would be freed from officialdom and disturbance.

I hope that you are feeling better and that you are not too overworked.