The World - News from June 9, 1989

The Council of Europe, comprising 23 European democracies, granted special guest status to Hungary, Poland, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union in a step toward closer links with Eastern Europe. The council’s assembly last month created the guest status, and the decision to grant this to the four East European countries was taken unanimously by its executive committee at a meeting in Paris. National legislatures of countries enjoying special guest status will be able to send delegates to plenary sessions of the assembly and to committee meetings where invited. They will have the right to speak but cannot vote. Up to now, no Communist Bloc state has ever been associated with the council.