V. Discussion of the Report of Mr.

Pryke+

PUBLIC ENTERPRISE AND THE ECONOMICS

OF LARGE SCALE PRODUCTION

Paper prepared by Mr. Andd CHOUCQ (France)

During the visit which our friend Paul Lambert was good enough to
pay to the French Section of CIRIEC, he discussed the organization and
the subjects to be treated at today’s Symposhm. He was concerned at
the increasingly frequent instances of concentration among private
capitalist enterprise in Europe and at the absence of any organ dealing
with concentration, particularly in the public services sector. When I
pointed out that something had been done as regards the postal admin-
istration, he urged me to prepare the statement which I am to make
today. This immediately caused me to meditate on that very French
proverb: “Speech is silver, silence is gold.”
Here, then, is a very brief description of the organization of the
postal and telecommunication sector at the European level.
First of all, why this organization? It is the outcome of the progress
made by the European idea from 1946, when Winston Churchill, in his
speech at Zurich, asked Europe to ‘stand up’, to the Treaty of Rome on
25 March 1957. The French Postal, Telegraph and Telephone Service
has not remained inactive. N o doubt because the very first meetings of
the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe showed the urgent
need for better liaison between the various countries, but also, and above
all, because it was clear that any action affecting the postal service
would have a major impact and would help to publicize the European
idea, the French Postal Service very soon found it necessary to seek the
co-operation of the other European postal services.
Thus as early as 1949, the European Assembly launched the idea
of a European stamp, which was actually introduced, as we shall see,
in 1956.
For that co-ordination, concentration and concertation, a legal basis
was still lacking. It was no doubt found in the Memorandum of Mr.Bon-
nefous, then Minister of Post, who suggested at the Messina Conference
of 1 June 1955 the idea of establishing, if I may say so, a legal frame-
work for that European organization of the postal service. No action

* The report of Mr. Pryke was published in No. 1/1970 of the Annals of Public and
CO-OpCTQtiVC Economy, pp. 43-61.
190 INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM OF CIRIEC

was taken on the Memorandum, although it clearly proposed the insti-

tution of a European conference of Ministers of Post, which would meet
every six months and submit an annual report to the European Assembly.
This initiative was not taken up; yet contacts between administrations
continued. Thus the issue of a European stamp was decided upon in
January 1956. This stamp was actually issued in Rome in October 1956.
At the same time an important resolution was adopted under which the
internal tariff would be applied between the six countries for letters in
the lowest-weight category and for post cards.
In addition, a permanent secretariat was set up in Januray 1957 a t a
conference in Frankfort-on-Main.
However, the eclipse of the European idea in France from June 1958
onwards, which was no doubt due to the shadow cast by a well-known
statesman of great stature, was to delay until July 1959 the birth-let
me emphasize it-at Montreux of the European Conference of Postal
and Telecommunications Administrations, which is in fact still today
the first precise legal framework that has been established.
The Conference is apolitical, operates at the level of administrations
and is wide open to all, since the conditions for joining it were and are
very easy: any administration representing a European country, which
is a member of the Universal Postal Union or of the International Tele-
communications Union may join the European Postal Conference by a
simple unilateral declaration.
In fact, the only members of the Conference were the countries of the
OECD, and, in addition, Finland and Yugoslavia. Subsequently, Liech-
tenstein, Monaco, Cyprus and the Holy See acceded to the Conference,
the total membership being now twenty-three countries. It is a body
consisting of the postal administrations with a Chairman and a Secre-
tariat manned in rotation. It votes recommendations only.
After an interruption of more than five years, contacts between the
six representatives of the ministries, i.e. of the political machinery, were
to be renewed in September 1964. During that meeting it was decided
to co-operate in postal matters within the legal framework of the Treaty
of Rome.
Perhaps I ought to tell you very briefly something about the Con-
ference’s early activities. First, a working group was set up dealing
with the application within the Community of the internal postal tariff
and with technical research. This gave rise, as I have pointed out,
to the “Europa” stamp. It. should be noted that the stamp has had a
remarkable success, which holds out the promise of European unity, as
an increasingly necessary and vital idea.
As regards technical co-operation, our achievements are still very
few. There is a working group of the building industry, which studies
standardization of air conditioning, and methods of lighting, and
reduction of costs in Europe. Any studies which have been completed
are made available to members of the European Postal Commission,
MR. PRYKES’S REPORT 191

including, more particularly, the rationalization and standardization of

automatic letter sorting, the automation of the postal cheque service,
the improvement of the night air mail network, space telecommunications
by satellite, and lastly the problem of tariffs. Owing to national struc-
tures, it is certainly difficult to bring postal, telegraph and telephone
tariffs into line, but efforts are continuing.
To revert to the difficulties of consumer representation referred to
yesterday by both Professor ,Lambert and our friend Chevrier, I must
point out that in the European Conference of Postal and Telecommuni-
cations Administrations trade union representation has not yet been
accepted, although for a great many years an international union of
postal workers has existed, whose European section has its headquarters
at Brussels. W e are confident that this gap, which is regrettable in
more than one respect, will soon be filled and that the Conference will
thus be able to provide, for the men of today and of tomorrow, a supra-
national forum which will contribute to broad understanding and to the
harmonious development of an economy in the service of man.

P a p r p r e p a d by Miss Maria-Pia SALlNl

1. Existing International Public Institutions.

The increasing number of cases of economic integration in the
private sector at the European level (involving expedients of the kind,
for example, recently resorted to by Dunlop and Pirelli; for in the
absence of any company legislation applicable throughout Europe it is
incorrect to speak of “concentration” in the legal sense of the term)
has given a new urgency to the problems to which the internation-
alisation of public enterprise gives rise, especially within the framework
of the European Economic Community, within which no enterprise which
might be included within the “public enterprise” group (i.e., enterprises
responsible for the administration of services of general economic inter-
est and enjoying a fiscal monopoly) enjoys any privileges or preferences
in comparison with firms in the private sector.
In practice, international co-operation between governments based
on treaties, agreements or international conventions has in the past per-
mitted the establishment of economic organisations accepting as mem-
bers private persons or institutions as well a s international bodies. Such
organisations have frequently been established for the construction of
public works in regions abutting on more than one country. Examples
are the International Moselle Corporation, established to facilitate and
regulate navigation on that river; the Mont Blanc Tunnel Company,
which built the tunnel under Mont Blanc; and airline and railway com-
panies providing common services for a number of countries (such as
Air Afrique, British Commonwealth Airlines, Tasman Empire Airways,