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| Title |
The regeneration of Western European Union
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| Document type |
Synopsis
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| Source |
Pierre Gerbet. Translated by the CVCE.
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| Keywords |
common defence policy, European defence policy, NATO, Single European Act, WEU, Yugoslav War
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| Copyright |
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| Caption |
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| Location in the digital library |
HISTORICAL EVENTS >> 1987–1997 The European Union in a Europe in the throes of change >> The end of the Cold War and geopolitical change in Europe >> The reshaping of Europe >> The regeneration of Western European Union
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| Document extract |
The regeneration of Western European Union
Established by the Paris Agreements of 23 October 1954, at the same time as the accession of Germany to the Atlantic Alliance, Western European Union (WEU) was the only European defence body, comprising France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Benelux countries and the Federal Republic of Germany. However, it was not equipped with any armed forces, so as to avoid overlapping with those of NATO, the only active defence operation. However, the end of the Cold War between the two blocs presented Europe with the opportunity to assume a more active role on the international stage. In his report on European Union dated 29 December 1975, Leo Tindemans, Prime Minister of Belgium, suggested the holding of exchanges of views on defence matters. On the initiative of the French Government, steps were taken to ‘reactivate’ WEU, which had remained dormant for 30 years. Following the signing of the Single European Act, between 17 and 28 February 1986, which extended the sphere of foreign policy cooperation to encompass the political and economic aspects of security, the WEU Council adopted a ‘Platform on European Security Interests’ in The Hague on 27 October 1987. The Seven expressed their resolve ‘to strengthen the European pillar of the Alliance’. Accordingly, it was not a matter of detaching Eur (...) Read more in ENA |
| See also |
Final Communiqué of the Ministerial Meeting of the North Atlantic Council on building a European Security and Defence Identity (Berlin, 3 June 1996
St. Malo Declaration by France and the United Kingdom (3 and 4 December 1998)
Franco–British St. Malo Declaration (4 December 1998)
Interview with Willem van Eekelen: relations between WEU and NATO in the 1960s (The Hague, 1 October 2009)
WEU operations on the Danube (1993–1996)
Report of the Assembly of Western European Union on the European security in the aftermath of the invasion of Czechoslovakia (15 January 1969)
Joint meeting between the North Atlantic Council and the WEU Council (Brussels, 14 December 1993)
Signing of the Security Agreement between WEU and NATO (Brussels, 6 May 1996)
Statement by the North Atlantic Council on Bosnia and Herzegovina (10 December 1996)
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