The Secretary-General of the Western European Union was the head of the Western European Union

Western European Union

The Western European Union was an international organisation tasked with implementing the Modified Treaty of Brussels , an amended version of the original 1948 Treaty of Brussels...

 (WEU), a Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

 era Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an defence and collective security

Collective security

Collective security can be understood as a security arrangement, regional or global, in which each state in the system accepts that the security of one is the concern of all, and agrees to join in a collective response to threats to, and breaches of, the peace...

 organisation, which was dissolved in 2011.

In 1999, it was agreed that the holder of newly created post of High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 should also be the Secretary-General of the WEU. This was then Javier Solana however since a reconfiguration of the High Representative post, Solana's successor Catherine Asthon was however never appointed Secretary-General and an acting secretary-general currently fulfilled the role.

List of Secretaries General

Name	Country	Years
Louis Goffin	Belgium	1955–1962
Maurice Iweins d'Eeckhoutte	Belgium	1962–1970
Georges Heisbourg	Luxembourg	1971–1974
Friedrich-Karl von Plehwe	West Germany	1974–1977
Edouard Longerstaey	Belgium	1977–1985
Alfred Cahen	Belgium	1985–1989
Wim van Eekelen Wim van Eekelen Willem Frederik van Eekelen is a Dutch politician.Van Eekelen is a former defence minister from 1986 to 1988 and a secretary general of the Western European Union.-References:...	Netherlands	1989–1994
José Cutileiro	Portugal	1994–1999
Javier Solana Javier Solana Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga, KOGF is a Spanish physicist and Socialist politician. After serving in the Spanish government under Felipe González and Secretary General of NATO , he was appointed the European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary...	Spain	1999–2009
Arnaud Jacomet	Early Modern France	2009–2011