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PAGE 12
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, NOVEMBER 16, 1984
A. "Yes, through the Saxsonian Line. But I do not go in for all
that social activity. I must by protocol attend the weddings of
the royal
families
in Europe but I do not
care
for all that; I
would rather be out talking politics, promoting the United States
of Europe.
"One thing saddened and angered me last June at a wedding to
which my grandmother attended. She of course needed two escorts
since she is blind and when she came into the hall all the royalty
stood up specifically to greet her with the exception of one per
son. That was Prince Andrew, who was sitting on a couch with his
cigarette and glass of wine, lounging around very disrespectful
ly. There was my grandmother you know, the last Empress of Aus
tria--quite an amazing achievement. But we were vindicated when
we saw one of Andrew's uncles race across the floor, stand him up
and proceed to castigate him before the others in attendance."
A further note by Mr. Witmer: The Archduke referred to England
as "us and them" or "them and us"! The overall impression he left
with the small audience was that he didn't care too much for the
British. He did state that he admired and liked the Queen and
Prince Charles.
Our thanks to Mr. Rosenthal and Mr. Witmer for their contributions.
On a coordinated European development, the foreign ministers of the revived
Western European Union met in Rome on October 27. They agreed, said one re
port, "to breathe fresh vigour into the long-comatose organisation."
This affirmed the WEU members' desire to strengthen the European pillar of
the transatlantic alliance and increase cooperation within WEU countries
(Belgium, Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and West Ger-
many) on security, arms procurement and disarmament negotiations. At the
same time there appears to be a general desire, particularly noticeable on
the part of the British, to make it clear that a revivified WEU should de
velop as a supplement rather than a challenge to NATO.
Orrin G. Hatch, Republican senator from Uta�, also expressed his reserva
tions in an article he wrote for the November 12 WALL STREET JOURNAL, en
titled "A 'Europeans Only' Club Threatens NATO":
Although the State Department and the European ministers them
selves have said that the WEU must serve "as a contribution to
the cohesion of the NATO alliance and not as a search for a
substitute for it," I remain skeptical. � concern is that the
WEU may become � wedge between Europe and the u.s.--ultimately
weakening the security of NA
m
According to a report published by an official WEU working group
this year, the overall "theme" of the WEU is the coordination of
European defense efforts. Pardon me, but I thought a body al
ready existed to take care of those needs, and it is called the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Of course, there is one
critical difference between the WEU and NATO: The WEU excludes