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Document A/WEU REC 666 | 5 June 2000

Forty-sixth session (First Part)

RECOMMENDATION 666

The Assembly,

1. Thanking the Council for rapidly conveying the second part of its forty-fifth annual report and the detailed information contained therein;

1. Noting that the Council's informal reflection process on Security and Defence Europe deals with the preparation of WEU's legacy and problems connected with the inclusion of those WEU functions that the European Union regards as necessary to fulfil its responsibilities in the area of crisis management, but that the parliamentary dimension is not part of that process;

    

2. Aware that the Council and the Assembly will continue to exist for as long as the modified Brussels Treaty remains in force and that they both bear the prime responsibility for application of the Treaty;

    

3. Reminding the Council nevertheless that the modified Brussels Treaty assigns it responsibilities with a view to promoting the progressive integration of Europe and cooperation with other European organisations and that the Treaty on European Union, which states that WEU is an integral part of its development, confers upon it additional tasks in respect of the European Union;

    

4. Recalling that the parliamentary dimension of European security and defence forms part of WEU's legacy and that the Council must exercise its responsibility with a view to guaranteeing the continuity of such dimension;

    

5. Stressing the fundamental importance of WEU's responsibility to ensure that the establishment of direct cooperation between the European Union and NATO can be successfully achieved once WEU ceases to play its pivotal role between the European Union and NATO;

    

6. Stressing also the need for the Council urgently to clarify what is to become of those WEU responsibilities that are not transferred to the European Union and the resultant consequences for WEU as an Organisation;

    

7. Strongly desirous that WEU, whose major achievements since its reactivation laid the foundations for the initiatives that led to the Cologne and Helsinki decisions, should do its utmost to further the success of projects to be finalised between now and the end of 2000;

    

8. Welcoming with satisfaction the Declaration issued at the Helsinki Summit which confirms that the European Union recognises that primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security lies with the United Nations Security Council,
9.  

RECOMMENDS THAT THE COUNCIL

1. Take the measures necessary for WEU to ensure that the collective defence commitment provided for in Article V of the modified Brussels Treaty is effectively maintained, taking account of the recent decisions concerning the European Security and Defence Policy;

    

2. Pursue its process of informal reflection on Security and Defence Europe and include the parliamentary dimension within it on the basis of the proposals contained in Assembly Recommendation 664;

    

3. Propose to the European Union that, on the basis of the work undertaken by the Portuguese presidency and joint proposals put forward by Britain and France, it establish a Consultative Council for the CESDP bringing together European Union member states, EU applicant countries and non-EU European members of NATO, which would meet at least twice a year at ministerial level;

    

4. Ensure, while respecting the European Union's decision-making autonomy, that the delegations of the non-EU European members of NATO and of the EU applicant countries have participation rights in the Consultative Council for the CESDP at least equivalent to those they have acquired in the WEU Council as associate members and associate partners;

    

5. Propose to the European Council that the European Union sign a protocol to be appended to the Treaty on European Union, stipulating that the Consultative Council for the CESDP - without prejudice to the provisions of Articles 4 and 21 - shall make an annual report on those of its activities under the CFSP which have defence implications, to the European Security and Defence Assembly (ESDA) composed of representatives of the fifteen parliaments of the signatory states of the Treaty on European Union, representatives of the fifteen parliaments of the EU applicant countries and the non-EU European members of NATO, and representatives of the European Parliament;

    

6. Ensure that the delegations of the non-EU European members of NATO and of the EU applicant countries have participation rights in the European Security and Defence Assembly that are at least equivalent to those they have acquired in the WEU Assembly as associate members and associate partners;

    

7. Do what is necessary to ensure that during the transitional period WEU is in a position to respond more effectively to any requests from the European Union to develop and implement actions of the Union, anticipating them in so far as is possible;

    

8. Assist the European Union in framing its "headline goal" of deploying and sustaining a European force capable of carrying out the full range of Petersberg missions, on the basis of the work done by WEU, in relation especially to the illustrative Petersberg mission profiles;

    

9. Make public opinion and the political authorities in the member states aware of the need for additional funding to achieve the "headline goal", in particular to guarantee that the said European force is militarily self-sufficient and has the necessary capability to carry out the proposed missions;

    

10. Ensure that the function WEU currently fulfils as an essential element of the European Security and Defence Identity (ESDI) within the Atlantic Alliance is in future fulfilled by the European Union's CESDP;

     

11. Support efforts to set up flexible forms of closer cooperation in the framework of the CFSP and CESDP that are not strictly limited to European Union member states;

     

12. Support proposals for the WEU Secretary-General and CFSP High Representative to preside over the PSC and civilian crisis-management machinery and give him powers to convene the Council of the European Union in the event of an emergency;

     

13. Propose to the European Union that it base its relationship with NATO on a provision of the Treaty on European Union comparable with that of Article IV of the modified Brussels Treaty;

     

14. Prepare and transmit to the European Union an in-depth assessment of its experience in the field of crisis management and propose to the Union that it base its new responsibilities in this area on a new provision of the Treaty on European Union drawing on Article VIII.3 of the modified Brussels Treaty;

     

15. Assist the European Union in coordinating civilian and military crisis management using the CIMIC concept as a basis and inform the Assembly about this concept;

     

16. Carry out an audit of those areas of the modified Brussels Treaty not transferred to the European Union and a study of the resultant consequences for WEU as an Organisation;

     

17. Give the Assembly an indication of the repercussions the transfer of certain WEU functions to the EU will have for the annual report the Council has to make to the Assembly, pursuant to Article IX of the modified Brussels Treaty;

     

18. Strengthen and extend the activities of the Torrej—n Satellite Centre, taking into account all the implications of its transfer to the European Union, including the fact that it works in a configuration of 16 countries, and inform the Assembly of its findings before taking any decision on such a transfer;

     

19. Ensure that the WEU Institute for Security Studies can continue its activities in the service of WEU and the European Union;

     

20. From now on, give the National Armaments Directors, and WEAG and WEAO which the Council has decided should for the time being remain WEU's responsibility, more specific guidance and a more positive political impetus, so as to strengthen European cooperation in this connection, and consult the Assembly before taking any decision on the future tasks and institutional position of such organisations;

     

21. Take a decision on the future of the Transatlantic Forum, ensuring that the European Union is able to take advantage of the Forum's acquis to help it organise security cooperation with the transatlantic allies:

     

22. Ensure that all WEU bodies for a time continue their dialogue with Russia and Ukraine and consider how the acquis represented by that dialogue can be preserved if transferred to the European Union, taking account in particular of the need for continuity of the formal relations the WEU Assembly has established with both chambers of the Russian Parliament;

     

23. Continue its dialogue with the southern Mediterranean countries and consult the Assembly before taking any decision as to the future of that dialogue;

     

24. Oppose any solution worked out within the European Union framework that seeks to reduce associate member and associate partner participation rights in missions whose implementation is to be transferred to the European Union;

     

25. Encourage the observer countries to commit themselves fully and without reservation to all aspects of the European Security and Defence Policy and invite their parliaments to send full delegations to the Assembly's meetings and sessions as the Assembly invites them so to do in Order 112;

     

26. Propose to the European Union General Affairs Council that it hold a meeting with the Assembly's Presidential Committee as soon as possible.

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