The third part of the fifth ordinary session of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe was held in Strasbourg from September 15 through 26, 1953.

The future position of the Saar: After considerable debate, the Consultative Assembly adopted a resolution submitted by Mr. van der Goes van Naters (Netherlands, Labor) on the future position of the Saar. In submitting a report on this question from the Committee on General Affairs, the rapporteur (van Naters) stressed the importance of finding a solution to the Saar question since the dispute between France and the German Federal Republic threatened to impede if not prevent progress toward European integration and cooperation. He emphasized that the problem was of concern to the whole of Europe and should be solved as a European problem rather than as a matter of concern only to Germans and French. During the debate, support of the van Naters' proposal came from representatives of the Saar, from Mr. Eugen Gerstenmaier (German Federal Republic, Christian Democratic Union), and Mr. Julian Amery (United Kingdom, Conservative). Mr. Amery, while unable to commit his government, announced his belief that the United Kingdom would not shirk its duties in this matter although unable to agree in advance to a particular time-table of action or to be bound to a particular procedure. Mr. Karl Mommer (German Federal Republic, Social-Democrat Party, SPD) felt that the question of the Saar was part of the larger problem of the reunification of Germany; the Saar, he argued, had not ceased to be a part of Germany.