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An Elusive Partnership: Europe, Economic Co-operation and British Policy 115
What was the most significant conclusion reached in the negotiations was that possibilities
for further openings should be subjected to continuing study. This in fact became
the rationale for setting up and maintaining Uniscan. Its main function was
“to keep under review the carrying out of the financial recommendations and to
explore further possibilities for economic co-operation”
although later it functioned as an expert body discussing developments in Europe
and in the international economy. The body began to work on a permanent basis,
meeting on an official level normally twice a year in each capital. Informal ministerial
meetings were organised occasionally, normally in conjunction with the
OEEC Council in Paris.
The first Uniscan meeting was held at the Danish Embassy in Paris in April
1950. The delegations, consisting of senior officials from the four countries, discussed
organisational questions, actions taken in each country to implement the
January declaration, and problems of economic disequilibria. The only tangible
move forward on the financial side was the UK delegation's statement about steps
for further relaxations of controls over possession of Scandinavian currencies in
Britain. 40 On the economic policy front, Swedish proposals for studies on disequilibria
were linked up with the work, which was being done within the OEEC “harmonisation”
resolutions. 41
The first meeting set a pattern for the future Uniscan discussions: instead of
spectacular advances towards Uniscan free trade, the agenda came to be dominated
by “European” and other wider international questions. In the first meeting there
was only one “European” question on the agenda, the forthcoming OEEC payments
scheme. Characteristically, it was agreed that
“it was desirable that representatives of the four Governments in Paris should keep in
close touch and discuss the various proposals for a European Payments Union with a
view of ensuring that discussions in the OEEC of such proposals take due account of
the objectives of Anglo-Scandinavian economic co-operation”. 42
In practice this meant an agreement that “these and other points should be followed
continuously in an Anglo-Scandinavian group in Paris in which the U.K.
Delegation will have the initiative”. 43 This meant, that the previously informal
co-operation of the British and Scandinavian delegations in Paris became institutionalised.
The OEEC offshoot of Uniscan adopted a more active role in Anglo-Scandinavian
economic talks from autumn 1950 onwards. The FO instructed
Hall-Patch along these lines in October 1950, but was nevertheless reluctant to reduce
Uniscan just as part of the “Paris machinery”. 44 Indeed, the leitmotif behind
continuing this co-operation in the EPU era seems to have been a need for a more
comprehensive exchange of views and co-ordination of policies in the OEEC, but
40. UK OEEC delegation telegram no.214 to FO, 4 April 1950, FO 371/87089, PRO.
41. Makins to Berthoud, 3 April 1950, FO 371/87089, PRO.
42. Hall-Patch telegram no.214 to FO, 3 April 1950, FO 371/87089, PRO.
43. Makins to Berthoud, 3 April 1950, FO 371/87089, PRO.
44. FO telegram no.1017 to OEEC Delegation, 3 October 1950, FO 371/87091, PRO.