Western European Union
Encyclopedia
The Western European Union (WEU; French: Union de l'Europe occidentale, UEO) was an international organisation tasked with implementing the Modified Treaty of Brussels (1954), an amended version of the original 1948 Treaty of Brussels. The WEU was established by seven Western Europe
an nations during the Cold War
.
Since the end of the Cold War, WEU tasks and institutions have been transferred to the Common Security and Defence Policy which is being framed for the geographically larger and more comprehensive European Union
. This process was completed in 2009, when a solidarity clause between the member states of the European Union
which was similar (but not identical) to the WEU's mutual defense clause, entered into force with the Treaty of Lisbon
. The states party to the Modified Treaty of Brussels consequently decided to terminate that treaty on 31 March 2010, with all the remaining WEU's activities to be ceased within 15 months. On 30 June 2011 the WEU was officially declared defunct.
, with a staff of 65 and an annual budget of €13.4 million. It was composed of the Council of the WEU (the Council) and the Assembly of the WEU (the Assembly).
The WEU was led by a Council of Ministers, assisted by a Permanent Representatives Council on ambassadorial level. Social and cultural aspects of the Brussels Treaty were handed to the Council of Europe to avoid duplication of responsibilities within Europe.
A Parliamentary Assembly
(composed of the delegations of the member states to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
) supervised the work of the Council, but it did not have any obligations on the Council. The Assembly of WEU was a consultative institution.
. Other transferred bodies include the Institute for Security Studies
and the Satellite Centre
.
) was made by France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Eurofor became operational in June 1998 as a task force of the Western European Union.
, France
, Belgium
, Luxembourg
, and the Netherlands
on 17 March 1948. It was a mutual intergovernmental self defense treaty which also promoted economic, cultural and social collaboration.
As a result of the failure of the European Defence Community
on 23 October 1954 the WEU was established by the Paris Agreements with the incorporation of Italy
and West Germany
. On this occasion it was renamed the Western European Union. The signatories of the Paris Agreements clearly stated their three main objectives in the preamble to the modified Brussels Treaty:
The defence efforts resulting from the Brussels Treaty took form as the Western Union Defence Organisation (see below).
The Brussels Pact had cultural and social clauses, concepts for the setting up of a 'Consultative Council'. The basis for this was that a cooperation between Western nations would help stop the spread of Communism.
, the WEU was given an integral role in giving the EU an independent defence capability, playing a major role in the Petersberg tasks
; however that situation is changing. On 13 November 2000, WEU Ministers met in Marseille
and agreed to begin transferring the organisation's capabilities and functions to the European Union, under its developing Common Foreign and Security Policy
(CFSP) and Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).
For example, on 1 January 2002, the WEU's Security Studies Institute and the Satellite Centre were transferred to the EU and became the European Union Institute for Security Studies
and the European Union Satellite Centre
. Notably, the role given to the WEU in the Amsterdam Treaty, was removed by the Nice Treaty. The European Constitution
was to have given the role of collective defence to NATO. The Treaty of Lisbon
has provisions for cooperation between the EU and both NATO (including the Berlin Plus agreement
) and the WEU. However the defence commitment, of Article 4 of the Brussels Treaty, has not been subsumed. Article 42(7) of the Treaty of the European Union, as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon, could be viewed as incorporating that defence commitment into the EU framework.
A summary of some of the moves towards a merger of the WEU into the EU:
With the transfer of responsibilities, the WEU's Parliamentary assembly was urged to dissolve itself, as it had a mandate to supervise WEU politics, not the EU's CSDP politics. But the Assembly saw itself as playing an important role, particularly with greater right of scrutiny, membership, experience and expertise in defence policy. Therefore, it renamed itself the "Interim European Security and Defence Assembly" and urged the European Convention
to include it as a second chamber within the EU's institutional framework. Hence it argued it could effectively scrutinise the CSDP, help improve EU-NATO relations and be more suited, being composed of national parliamentarians, to the intergovernmental style of the CSDP.
However with the European Constitution aiming to streamline and simplify the EU's foreign policy, for example combining the two main foreign policy posts, it was not seen as wise to then create a separate double legislature for the CFSP, instead, the European Parliament
was granted greater scrutiny over foreign policy.
took over the WEU's mutual defence clause. There was much discussion about what to do with the WEU following the introduction of Lisbon, including plans to scrap it. On 30 March 2010 in a Written Ministerial Statement UK's Foreign Office Minister Chris Bryant
gave notice that the UK intended to withdraw from the Western European Union within a year. On 31 March 2010 the German Foreign Affairs Ministry announced Germany's intention to withdraw from the Modified Brussels Treaty. During the Spanish Presidency of the WEU, on behalf of the 10 Member States of the Modified Brussels Treaty announced the collective decision to withdraw from the Treaty and to close the WEU organisation by June 2011. On 30 June 2011 the WEU ceased officially to exist.
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
an nations during the 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...
.
Since the end of the Cold War, WEU tasks and institutions have been transferred to the Common Security and Defence Policy which is being framed for the geographically larger and more comprehensive 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...
. This process was completed in 2009, when a solidarity clause between the member states 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...
which was similar (but not identical) to the WEU's mutual defense clause, entered into force with the Treaty of Lisbon
Treaty of Lisbon
The Treaty of Lisbon of 1668 was a peace treaty between Portugal and Spain, concluded at Lisbon on 13 February 1668, through the mediation of England, in which Spain recognized the sovereignty of Portugal's new ruling dynasty, the House of Braganza....
. The states party to the Modified Treaty of Brussels consequently decided to terminate that treaty on 31 March 2010, with all the remaining WEU's activities to be ceased within 15 months. On 30 June 2011 the WEU was officially declared defunct.
Organisation
The WEU was headquartered in BrusselsBrussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, with a staff of 65 and an annual budget of €13.4 million. It was composed of the Council of the WEU (the Council) and the Assembly of the WEU (the Assembly).
The WEU was led by a Council of Ministers, assisted by a Permanent Representatives Council on ambassadorial level. Social and cultural aspects of the Brussels Treaty were handed to the Council of Europe to avoid duplication of responsibilities within Europe.
A Parliamentary Assembly
Assembly of WEU
The Assembly of the Western European Union was an assembly for delegations from the national parliaments of the member countries of the Western European Union , a security and defence organisation...
(composed of the delegations of the member states to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
) supervised the work of the Council, but it did not have any obligations on the Council. The Assembly of WEU was a consultative institution.
Western European Armaments Group
The "Independent European Program Group" (IEPG) was established as a forum for armaments cooperation in 1976 with the aim of creating a European Armaments Agency. Since 1993 the WEU armaments cooperation forum has been known as Western European Armaments Group (WEAG). Its membership reached 19 in 2000: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom. The body closed on 23 May 2005.Western European Armaments Organisation
The Western European Armaments Organisation (WEAO) was intended as an Armaments Agency but operations were limited to a research cell. It provided support services in defence research and technology. It was created in 1996, and closed in August 2006. These agencies were taken over by the European Defence AgencyEuropean Defence Agency
The European Defence Agency is an agency of the European Union based in Brussels. It is a Common Foreign and Security Policy body set up on 12 July 2004, reporting to the Council of the European Union. All EU member states, except Denmark which has an opt-out of the CFSP, take part in the agency...
. Other transferred bodies include the Institute for Security Studies
European Union Institute for Security Studies
The European Union Institute for Security Studies is a Paris-based EU agency of the Common Foreign and Security Policy . Its goals are to find a common security culture for the EU, to help develop and project the CFSP, and to enrich Europe’s strategic debate.The EUISS is an autonomous agency with...
and the Satellite Centre
European Union Satellite Centre
The European Union Satellite Centre is an agency of the European Union's Council of Ministers which gathers information through satellite images....
.
Eurofor
On 15 May 1995, the Council of Ministers of the WEU met in Lisbon. During this meeting a declaration of the creation of the European Operational Rapid Force (EuroforEurofor
European Rapid Operational Force is a multinational rapid reaction force composed of forces from France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. It has a permanent staff capable of commanding operations, involving commitments of up to a Light Division in size. Eurofor was formed in 1995, and was answerable to...
) was made by France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Eurofor became operational in June 1998 as a task force of the Western European Union.
Participating states
The Western European Union had 10 member countries, 6 associate member countries, 5 observer countries and 7 associate partner countries. On 14 June 2001, then-WEU President Solana stated that there was no foreseeable reason to change the status of the non member countries in the organisation.| Member countries: (modified Brussels Treaty - 1954) All member countries of the WEU were also members of both NATO and the European Union. These are the only nations that had full voting rights.
Observer countries: (Rome - 1992) Observer countries were members of the European Union, but not of NATO. 1
1 Denmark was an exception, being member of both. It has an opt-out Opt-outs in the European Union In general, the law of the European Union is valid in all of the twenty-seven European Union member states. However, occasionally member states negotiate certain opt-outs from legislation or treaties of the European Union, meaning they do not have to participate in certain policy areas... from the Treaty of Maastricht (1992), so that it does not participate in the CSDP 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... . Thus in respect to the WEU it would have been more appropriate for it to be regarded as non-EU NATO member state (WEU associate status). |
Associate member countries: (Rome - 1992) Associate membership was created to include the European countries that were members of NATO but not of the European Union. Associate members Poland, the Czech Republic & Hungary later joined the EU.
Associate partner countries: (Kirchberg - 1994) Countries that at the time were part of neither NATO nor of the EU. All of the following nations have since joined both NATO and the EU.
|
History
Treaty of Brussels
The Treaty of Brussels was signed by the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
, and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
on 17 March 1948. It was a mutual intergovernmental self defense treaty which also promoted economic, cultural and social collaboration.
As a result of the failure of the European Defence Community
European Defence Community
The European Defense Community was a plan proposed in 1950 by René Pleven, the French President of the Council , in response to the American call for the rearmament of West Germany...
on 23 October 1954 the WEU was established by the Paris Agreements with the incorporation of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
. On this occasion it was renamed the Western European Union. The signatories of the Paris Agreements clearly stated their three main objectives in the preamble to the modified Brussels Treaty:
- To create in Western Europe a firm basis for European economic recovery;
- To afford assistance to each other in resisting any policy of aggression;
- To promote the unity and encourage the progressive integration of Europe.
The defence efforts resulting from the Brussels Treaty took form as the Western Union Defence Organisation (see below).
The Brussels Pact had cultural and social clauses, concepts for the setting up of a 'Consultative Council'. The basis for this was that a cooperation between Western nations would help stop the spread of Communism.
Transfers to the EU
Originally, under the Amsterdam TreatyAmsterdam Treaty
The Amsterdam Treaty, officially the Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty of the European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts, was signed on 2 October 1997, and entered into force on 1 May 1999; it made substantial changes to the Maastricht Treaty,...
, the WEU was given an integral role in giving the EU an independent defence capability, playing a major role in the Petersberg tasks
Petersberg tasks
The Petersberg tasks are a list of military and security priorities incorporated within the European Security and Defence Policy, now called the CSDP as of the Treaty of Lisbon, of the European Union....
; however that situation is changing. On 13 November 2000, WEU Ministers met in Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
and agreed to begin transferring the organisation's capabilities and functions to the European Union, under its developing Common Foreign and Security Policy
Common Foreign and Security Policy
The Common Foreign and Security Policy is the organised, agreed foreign policy of the European Union for mainly security and defence diplomacy and actions. CFSP deals only with a specific part of the EU's external relations, which domains include mainly Trade and Commercial Policy and other areas...
(CFSP) and Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).
For example, on 1 January 2002, the WEU's Security Studies Institute and the Satellite Centre were transferred to the EU and became the European Union Institute for Security Studies
European Union Institute for Security Studies
The European Union Institute for Security Studies is a Paris-based EU agency of the Common Foreign and Security Policy . Its goals are to find a common security culture for the EU, to help develop and project the CFSP, and to enrich Europe’s strategic debate.The EUISS is an autonomous agency with...
and the European Union Satellite Centre
European Union Satellite Centre
The European Union Satellite Centre is an agency of the European Union's Council of Ministers which gathers information through satellite images....
. Notably, the role given to the WEU in the Amsterdam Treaty, was removed by the Nice Treaty. The European Constitution
Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe
The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe , , was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European Union...
was to have given the role of collective defence to NATO. The Treaty of Lisbon
Treaty of Lisbon
The Treaty of Lisbon of 1668 was a peace treaty between Portugal and Spain, concluded at Lisbon on 13 February 1668, through the mediation of England, in which Spain recognized the sovereignty of Portugal's new ruling dynasty, the House of Braganza....
has provisions for cooperation between the EU and both NATO (including the Berlin Plus agreement
Berlin Plus agreement
The Berlin Plus agreement is the short title of a comprehensive package of agreements made between NATO and the EU on 16 December 2002. These agreements were based on conclusions of NATO's 1999 Washington summit, sometimes referred to as the CJTF mechanism, and allowed the EU to draw on some of...
) and the WEU. However the defence commitment, of Article 4 of the Brussels Treaty, has not been subsumed. Article 42(7) of the Treaty of the European Union, as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon, could be viewed as incorporating that defence commitment into the EU framework.
A summary of some of the moves towards a merger of the WEU into the EU:
- On 20 November 1999, Javier SolanaJavier SolanaFrancisco 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...
, who is the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security PolicyCommon Foreign and Security PolicyThe Common Foreign and Security Policy is the organised, agreed foreign policy of the European Union for mainly security and defence diplomacy and actions. CFSP deals only with a specific part of the EU's external relations, which domains include mainly Trade and Commercial Policy and other areas...
(CFSP) of the EU, was also appointed Secretary-General of the WEU. His being head of both organisations permits him to oversee the ongoing transfer of functions from the WEU to the EU. - The Petersberg tasksPetersberg tasksThe Petersberg tasks are a list of military and security priorities incorporated within the European Security and Defence Policy, now called the CSDP as of the Treaty of Lisbon, of the European Union....
, declared by the WEU in 1992, were incorporated in 1997 into the Treaty of Amsterdam of the EU, forming the basis of the Common Security and Defence Policy which frames a common policy to deal with humanitarian and rescue, peacekeeping and tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peacemaking. - The European Union Institute for Security StudiesEuropean Union Institute for Security StudiesThe European Union Institute for Security Studies is a Paris-based EU agency of the Common Foreign and Security Policy . Its goals are to find a common security culture for the EU, to help develop and project the CFSP, and to enrich Europe’s strategic debate.The EUISS is an autonomous agency with...
(EUISS) and European Union Satellite CentreEuropean Union Satellite CentreThe European Union Satellite Centre is an agency of the European Union's Council of Ministers which gathers information through satellite images....
(EUSC), both established to function under the EU's CFSP pillarThree pillars of the European UnionBetween 1993 and 2009, the European Union legally consisted of three pillars. This structure was introduced with the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993, and was eventually abandoned on 1 December 2009 with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, when the EU obtained a consolidated legal...
, are replacements to the Western European Union Institute for Security Studies and the Western Union Satellite Centre which had been established to function in connection to the WEU.
With the transfer of responsibilities, the WEU's Parliamentary assembly was urged to dissolve itself, as it had a mandate to supervise WEU politics, not the EU's CSDP politics. But the Assembly saw itself as playing an important role, particularly with greater right of scrutiny, membership, experience and expertise in defence policy. Therefore, it renamed itself the "Interim European Security and Defence Assembly" and urged the European Convention
European Convention
The Convention on the Future of Europe , was a body established by the European Council in December 2001 as a result of the Laeken Declaration...
to include it as a second chamber within the EU's institutional framework. Hence it argued it could effectively scrutinise the CSDP, help improve EU-NATO relations and be more suited, being composed of national parliamentarians, to the intergovernmental style of the CSDP.
However with the European Constitution aiming to streamline and simplify the EU's foreign policy, for example combining the two main foreign policy posts, it was not seen as wise to then create a separate double legislature for the CFSP, instead, the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
was granted greater scrutiny over foreign policy.
Abolition
In 2009, the Treaty of LisbonTreaty of Lisbon
The Treaty of Lisbon of 1668 was a peace treaty between Portugal and Spain, concluded at Lisbon on 13 February 1668, through the mediation of England, in which Spain recognized the sovereignty of Portugal's new ruling dynasty, the House of Braganza....
took over the WEU's mutual defence clause. There was much discussion about what to do with the WEU following the introduction of Lisbon, including plans to scrap it. On 30 March 2010 in a Written Ministerial Statement UK's Foreign Office Minister Chris Bryant
Chris Bryant
Christopher John Bryant is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Rhondda since 2001...
gave notice that the UK intended to withdraw from the Western European Union within a year. On 31 March 2010 the German Foreign Affairs Ministry announced Germany's intention to withdraw from the Modified Brussels Treaty. During the Spanish Presidency of the WEU, on behalf of the 10 Member States of the Modified Brussels Treaty announced the collective decision to withdraw from the Treaty and to close the WEU organisation by June 2011. On 30 June 2011 the WEU ceased officially to exist.
See also
- List of Secretaries General of the Western European Union
- List of military alliances
- Collective defence
- Collective securityCollective securityCollective 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...
- Exercise VerityExercise VerityExercise Verity was a 1949 multilateral naval training exercise involving 60 warships from the British, French, and Dutch navies for the newly formed Western Union, the precursor to the Western European Union...
- Flag of the Western European UnionFlag of the Western European UnionThe flag of the Western European Union was dark blue with a semicircle of ten yellow five pointed stars, broken at the top, with the organisation's initials in the centre...
- Franco-British Defence and Security Cooperation Treaty and Downing Street Declaration
- European Defence AgencyEuropean Defence AgencyThe European Defence Agency is an agency of the European Union based in Brussels. It is a Common Foreign and Security Policy body set up on 12 July 2004, reporting to the Council of the European Union. All EU member states, except Denmark which has an opt-out of the CFSP, take part in the agency...
- Western EuropeWestern EuropeWestern Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
External links
- WEU official web site
- Assembly of the Western European Union; Assembly of the Western European Union
- History of NATO – the Atlantic Alliance - UK Government site
- the Western European Union European NAvigator
- WEU evolution: The presentation of the Eurocorps-Foreign Legion concept at the European Parliament in June 2003