LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
U.N.O. AND EUROPE
was curious to read in your leading article of April 22nd that ' the United Nations can hardly be numbered (among) the multiplicity
Of bodies engaged in the laudable work of promoting peace and ico-operation in Europe." Has the Spectator never heard of the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe 1 This is not merely a body engaged in the laudable work of promoting co-operation, and therefore peace, between the two halves of Europe. It is the only body engaged in this work.
The work of E.C.E. receives little publicity in this country, except in a
few responsible journals ; but it is none the less vital for that. It covers a wide range, from road transport—in connection with which The Times paid tribute to E.C.E. on March 14th—to man-power, coal-distribution, electric power and timber. Far from conflicting in any way with the sixteen-nation O.E.E.C. responsible for the European Recovery Programme, E.C.E. can and does offer a channel for the achievement of one of the programme's basic .aims—the expansion4 trade between Eastern and 'Western Europe. This point was adrnirikly put in an article in the Economist of February 19th, which concluded :
" The fact remains that the E.C.E. exists, that Geneva is a possible centre for negotiation with Eastern Europe, and that the Western Powers have, by their own estimates, assumed the obligation to find some common commercial ground with the east."--'-Yours faithfully, ANDREW BOYD.
[Our leading article continued : " It is because the Security Council could not confer security—thanks, as a matter of Objective fact, to the obstruc- tive attitude consistently adopted by Russia—that other security arrange- ments have had to be devised." It gives the context of the statement quoted. Its validity is not shaken by the fact that the Economic Com- mission for Europe, the Health Organisation and the Food and Agricul- ture Organisation are all doing useful work in their several spheres.—ED., Spectator.]
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