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Western European Union

The Brussels Treaty was signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The Brussels Treaty Organisation - as it was then called - provided for collective self-defence and economic, social and cultural collaboration between its signatories. On 23 October 1954, the Brussels Treaty was modified to include the Federal Republic of Germany and Italy, thus creating Western European Union. The aims stated in the preamble were: "to afford assistance to each other in resisting any policy of aggression" and "to promote unity and to encourage the progressive integration of Europe".

Its two most important provisions are contained in Articles V and VIII.:

• "If any of the High Contracting Parties should be the object of an armed attack in Europe, the other High Contracting Parties will, in accordance with the provisions of Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, afford the Party so attacked all military and other aid and assistance in their power." (Article V)
• "At the request of any of the High Contracting Parties, the Council shall be immediately convened in order to permit them to consult with regard to any situation which may constitute a threat to peace, in whatever area this threat should arise, or a danger to economic stability." (Article VIII.3)

In November 1988, a Protocol of Accession was signed by the WEU Member States with Portugal and Spain. The ratification process was completed in March 1990. Greece followed a similar process in 1992 and 1995 thus bringing the total WEU membership to 10.

The Treaty on Economic, Social and Cultural Collaboration and Collective Self-Defence was signed at Brussels on 17 March 1948 (the Brussels Treaty), as amended by the Protocol signed at Paris on 23 October 1954, which modified and completed it. The Brussels Treaty was signed by Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Conceived largely as a response to Soviet moves to impose control over the countries of Central Europe, the Treaty represented the first attempt to translate into practical arrangements some of the ideals of the European movement. Its main feature was the commitment to mutual defence should any of the signatories be the victim of an armed attack in Europe. In September 1948, military co-operation was initiated in the framework of the Brussels Treaty Organisation. A plan for common defence was adopted, involving the integration of air defences and a joint command organisation.

Conceived largely as a response to Soviet moves to impose control over the countries of Central Europe, the Treaty represented the first attempt to translate into practical arrangements some of the ideals of the European movement. Its main feature was the commitment to mutual defence should any of the signatories be the victim of an armed attack in Europe. In September 1948, military co-operation was initiated in the framework of the Brussels Treaty Organisation. A plan for common defence was adopted, involving the integration of air defences and a joint command organisation.

A means had to be found to integrate the Federal Republic of Germany into the Western security system. At a special Conference convened in London in September 1954 and attended by the Brussels Treaty powers, the United States, Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany and Italy, it was decided to invite the latter two countries to join the Brussels Treaty. The conclusions of the conference were formalised by the Paris Agreements, signed in October of that year, which amended the Brussels Treaty, created Western European Union (WEU) as a new international organisation and provided for the Federal Republic of Germany and Italy to join.

The early 1980s witnessed a revival of the debate on European security. European Political Co-operation (EPC) could not be extended beyond the economic aspects of security issues. The failure of the Genscher-Colombo initiative in November 1981, whose aim was to extend the EPC's sphere of competence to security and defence questions, prompted the countries in favour to look for another framework of consultation. WEU was the obvious choice.

On the initiative of the Belgian and French Governments, a preliminary joint meeting of the Foreign and Defence Ministers within the WEU framework was held in Rome on 26 and 27 October 1984. It was marked by the adoption of the founding text of WEU's reactivation: the "Rome Declaration". Work on the definition of a European security identity and the gradual harmonisation of its members' defence policies were among the stated objectives. Ministers recognised the "continuing necessity to strengthen western security, and that better utilization of WEU would not only contribute to the security of Western Europe but also to an improvement in the common defence of all the countries of the Atlantic Alliance".

The negotiations between the United States and the USSR on the withdrawal of intermediate nuclear forces highlighted the need for even closer European consultation on defence. The WEU Council and its Special Working Group produced a report on European security conditions and criteria and on the specific responsibilities of Europeans for their defence within the Atlantic Alliance. On this basis, in October 1987, the WEU Ministerial Council adopted a "Platform on European Security Interests". This Hague Platform also set out general guidelines for WEU's future program of work.

WEU's role and operational capabilities have developed considerably since 1991. This development is based on close cooperation with the European Union and NATO. Today, WEU has the necessary instruments to undertake any European-led crisis management operations and is working to develop them further as preparation for the establishment within the European Union of a crisis management capability in accordance with the decisions taken at the Cologne European Council in June 1999. WEU also provides for a genuine framework for dialogue and cooperation on security and defence matters.

In 1991 at Maastricht, the Heads of State and Government of the Member States of the European Community decided that the Treaty on European Union should establish a common foreign and security policy (CFSP), while on 10 December the WEU Ministers approved two Declarations which marked the starting point for WEU as we know it today.

The first WEU Declaration on "The role of the Western European Union and its relations with the European Union and the Atlantic Alliance" stated that "WEU will be developed as the defence component of the European Union and as the means to strengthen the European pillar of the Atlantic Alliance. To this end, it will formulate common European defence policy and carry forward its concrete implementation through the further development of its own operational role." The Declaration proposed ways of strengthening WEU's relations with the European Union and NATO, as well as measures to develop WEU's operational role. A number of practical decisions were taken, including the transfer of the seat of the WEU Council and Secretariat-General from London to Brussels, which was completed in January 1993.

The second WEU Declaration drew the consequences of the first Declaration for WEU's membership: "States which are members of the European Union are invited to accede to WEU on conditions to be agreed in accordance with Article XI of the modified Brussels Treaty, or to become observers if they so wish. Simultaneously, other European Member States of NATO are invited to become associate members of WEU in a way which will give them the possibility to participate fully in the activities of WEU."

Meeting on 19 June 1992 at Petersberg near Bonn to consider the implementation of the Maastricht Declarations, WEU Foreign and Defence Ministers took a major step forward in defining WEU's operational role. WEU Member States declared their preparedness "to make available military units from the whole spectrum of their conventional armed forces for military tasks conducted under the authority of WEU".

The Amsterdam Treaty concluded in 1997 confirmed WEU's role as providing the EU with access to an operational capability, complementing its own diplomatic and economic means for undertaking the Petersberg tasks now incorporated in the revised Treaty on European Union. The Treaty called for enhanced EU-WEU cooperation and referred to the possibility of the integration of WEU into the EU, should the European Council so decide. The Declaration agreed by WEU Ministers in Brussels on 22 July 1997 and attached to the Final Act of the EU's Intergovernmental Conference set the agenda for WEU's further development (see PART II.I for details).

The decisions at the NATO Summit in Washington in April 1999 and at the Cologne European Council in June 1999 have now prepared the way for a direct EU-NATO relationship. The European Union has committed itself to ensuring that it has at its disposal the capabilities and instruments needed to take decisions on the full range of conflict prevention and crisis management tasks. NATO has stated its readiness to support the European Union, in particular by defining and adopting the necessary arrangements for ready access by the EU to the collective assets and capabilities of the Alliance, for operations in which the Alliance as a whole is not militarily engaged as an Alliance.

The transfer of the crisis management functions to the European Union has had no impact on WEU membership. Following a decision taken on 14 June 2001, the Secretary-General stated during the 1352nd meeting of the Council of Western European Union on 28 June 2001 that, with regard to the period from 1 January 2002, the Member States deemed it unnecessary, in present and foreseeable circumstances, to make any formal change to the statuses of non-full members. Associate Members, Observers and Associate Partners continue to nominate representatives to the WEU Council; and the possibility of Council or working group meetings and/or circulation of documents remains for business related to the WEU Assembly, which may require specific input from non-full members owing to the participation of their parliamentarians in the WEU Assembly. The Permanent Council last met at the level of Heads of Delegation on 28 May 2002. A Council can still meet if and as necessary. Since July 2001 decisions have been taken by written procedure (for example the creation of a Secretariat-General Administrative Service in Paris and approval of the budgets). No ministerial Councils have been convened since Marseille (November 2000). Theoretically, Council can still meet.

WEU has neither its own forces nor its own permanent command structures. The military units and headquarters that could be made available to WEU on a case-by-case basis for specific operations have been designated by the WEU nations. These "Forces answerable to WEU" (FAWEU) are held on a database by the WEU Military Staff and updated annually. In addition to national units, a number of multinational formations have been designated as Forces answerable to WEU or will be available to WEU:

• EUROCORPS (European Corps) - Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain;
• Multinational Division (Central) - Belgium, Germany, Netherlands and the United Kingdom;
• UK/Netherlands Amphibious Force;
• EUROFOR (Rapid Deployment Force) - France, Italy, Portugal and Spain;
• EUROMARFOR (European Maritime Force) - France, Italy, Portugal and Spain;
• Headquarters of the First German-Netherlands Corps;
• Spanish-Italian Amphibious Force;
• European Air Group (EAG) - Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom.