WEU, Crisis Management and the Petersberg Tasks

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WEU, Crisis Management and the Petersberg Tasks

• Western Union Defence Organisation (WUDO) new
  regional defence organisation enshrined in the
  Brussels Treaty of March 17th 1948 (Belgium,
  France, Holland, Luxembourg and the United
  Kingdom). It was largely conceived as a means to
  react to Soviet moves to impose control over the
  countries of Central Europe
• With the creation of NATO one year after, WUDO
  was integrated into the latter, on the grounds of
  avoiding duplication between the two
  organisations
• The failure in launching the European Defence
  Community (EDC) in 1954 led to attempts of
  finding alternative ways to integrate West
  Germany in the Western security system, thus

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WEU, Crisis Management and the Petersberg Tasks

• Western European Union (WEU) was created as a new
  international organisation, in which its members
  were joined by West Germany and Italy Paris
  Agreements, October 1954
• 3 main objectives a) To create in Western Europe
  a firm basis for economic recovery b) To afford
  assistance to each other in resisting any policy
  of agression c) To promote the unity and
  encourage the progressive integration of Europe
• From 1954 to 1973, WEU played the role of liason
  between the EC and the UK, during the period time
  in which the latter was not part of the EC

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WEU, Crisis Management and the Petersberg Tasks

• From 1973 to 1984, the WEU was practically
  non-existent i.e. no WEU meetings at the
  ministerial level, no Secretary General
• The WEU had failed in trying to forge a
  European dimension of security in the shadow of
  NATO primacy was given to the latter, while the
  WEU was seen as the sleeping beauty of Western
  defence
• Yet, during the early 1980s, tensions within the
  transatlantic community were growing stronger,
  most notably over the question on how to deal,
  politically and in security terms, with the
  Soviet Union
• Therefore, some European powers and European NATO
  allies sought to find a body that could represent
  a reinvigoration of European defence activities
  without alarming the US hence the WEU was ready
  to come back to life

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WEU, Crisis Management and the Petersberg Tasks

• As a result of a French diplomatic initiative, 3
  important WEU ministerial meetings were held
  during the mid 1980s (Paris, Rome, Bonn) Rome
  Declaration, October 1984 WEU swears allegiance
  to NATO but highlights the necessity for a
  stronger Western Europe (defence-wise)
• Publicly, the Reagan US administration approved
  the reactivation of the WEU, but in private there
  were fears that the French led initiative could
  undermine NATO
• Atlanticist Vs Europeanist views of the WEU for
  the former, the WEU was a mere intergovernmental
  forum for discussion and did not constitute an
  alternative military organisation for Europe for
  the latter, it was perceived as a temporary move
  to allow for the incorporation of a security
  dimension into the EC (UK vs France?)

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WEU, Crisis Management and the Petersberg Tasks

• July 1987, Speech by Jacques Delors, President of
  the Commission of the EC Europeans to equip
  themselves with a defence institution in the
  wider conventional field including theatre
  weapons which belong to them, and a political
  institution which would group together all those
  members of the Community who wished to be
  associated with it
• September 1987 as regards institutions, my hope
  lies in the reactivation of WEU and its ability
  to play in the future the necessary role as an
  interface between the European Community,
  political co-operation and the Atlantic Alliance
• Panic in the UK and Holland, with the
  perception that the reactivation of the WEU could
  mean building a (European) alternative to NATO

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WEU, Crisis Management and the Petersberg Tasks

• The Hague Platform (October 1987) Background -
  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 produced a report on European security
  conditions and criteria and on the specific
  responsibilities of Europeans for their defence
  within the Atlantic Alliance
• Western European Security still defined very much
  in terms of Cold War terms
• The Hague declaration convinced that the
  construction of an integrated Europe will remain
  incomplete as long as it does not include
  security and defence the revitalization of
  WEU as an important contribution to the broader
  process of European unification yet the
  security of the Western European countries can
  only be ensured in close association with our
  North American allies. The security of the
  Alliance is indivisible

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WEU, Crisis Management and the Petersberg Tasks

• Early 1990s, New World Order or the new End of
  the Cold War the Uk supportive of the idea of
  having the WEU as an informal European pillar
  of NATO
• However, rapidly changing security conditions
  since the late 1980s had fuelled speculation over
  the durability of transatlantic political and
  security constructions French President,
  Francois Mitterrand, keen on building a more
  independent European defence policy
• Was there a possible middle ground between
  national independence and dependence on the US
  for European security and defence matters?

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WEU, Crisis Management and the Petersberg Tasks

• Rome European Council, Autumn 1990, Italian PM
  Giulio Andreotti while the definition of a
  common European external and security policy did
  not mean any immediate undermining of NATOs
  role, it did prepare for the day when we have to
  formulate an exclusive system of security, quite
  separate from the wider link-up now offered by
  NATO
• Spring 1991 Franco-German-Italian proposal on
  having a common European system of security and
  defence implying extending and strenghtening the
  WEU with a view to integrating it into EU
  structures before 1999 i.e. the defence arm of
  the EC/EU
• Yet the UK and Holland wanted to have the WEU
  constructed as a bridge to NATO, and not having
  the organisation working under the authority of
  the European Council

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WEU, Crisis Management and the Petersberg Tasks

• US, Bush Sr. Administration, February 1991 it
  welcomed a stronger European pillar in NATO but
  was uneasy about the idea of incorporating the
  WEU in the EC
• US Memorandum We are concerned over the
  proposals that the WEU should be subordinated to
  the European Council, thereby developing a
  European security component. . . solely within
  the EC . . . that could lead to NATOs
  marginalization. In that the EC is clearly not
  within the Alliance, subordinating the WEU to
  it would accentuate the separation and
  independence of the European pillar from the
  Alliance . . . We feel it is not productive to
  stress the separateness of US and European
  security. This divisive tendency could undermine
  forty years of effort in building and maintaining
  Alliance solidarity.

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WEU, Crisis Management and the Petersberg Tasks

• Finally, the compromise Anglo-Italian
  declaration October 1991 the WEU should be
  entrusted with the task of developing the
  European dimension in the field of defence, it
  will develop its role in two complementary
  directions as the defence component of the Union
  and as the means to strengthen the European
  pillar of the Alliance.
• Bush Sr. November 1991 if your ultimate aim is
  to provide independently for your own defence,
  the time to tell us is today
• End-result? Article J.4 of the Maastricht Treaty
  (entry into force in November 1993) the WEU is
  an integral part of the development of the
  Union and should elaborate and implement
  decisions and actions of the Union which have
  defence implicationshowever

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WEU, Crisis Management and the Petersberg Tasks

• the Policy of the Union in accordance with this
  Article shall not prejudice the specific
  character of the security and defence policy of
  certain Member States and shall respect the
  obligations of certain Member States under the
  North Atlantic Treaty and be compatible with the
  common security and defence policy established
  within that framework.