§ Sir Dudley Smithasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on his involvement in the meeting of Western European Union Foreign Ministers in Paris on 12 June; and what conclusions were reached.
§ Mr. WhitneyMy right hon. and learned Friend attended the ministerial meeting of the Council of the WEU in Paris on 12 June. The Ministers agreed that a paper entitled "Reactivation of WEU" prepared by a working group of the WEU Council should be released for publication. I am arranging for copies to be placed in the Library of the House.
The WEU is the only European organisation empowered by treaty to discuss defence and security matters. The organisation was set up under the provisions of the modified Brussels treaty of 1954. The treaty is important to the United Kingdom. It contains a binding mutual defence commitment, stronger than that of the North Atlantic Treaty, and it provides the legal basis on which we keep ground and air forces on the mainland of Europe.
We have welcomed the initiative of the French Government in seeking ways of making better use of the institutions of the WEU. The meeting gave a useful start to that process. It was decided to ask a working group of the WEU's Permanent Council to prepare more detailed proposals for Ministers to look at at a meeting in Rome in the autumn.
My right hon. and learned Friend told his colleagues in Paris that we see merit in deeper consultation on defence and security issues in the Council without encroaching on NATO; and we recognise the important role the Assembly can play in maintaining public support for our defence policies. My right hon. and noble Friend, the Baroness Young, is to address the Assembly in Paris today on these questions. My right hon. and learned Friend said that on the question of armaments co-operation, on which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence, as chairman o the Eurogroup, has taken important initiatives, 126W we should not dissipate our efforts, but should attach priority to the Eurogroup, and to the independent Eurpean programme group, to which all WEU members belong.
It was agreed by all Ministers at this meeting that our aim should be to strengthen the Atlantic Alliance and the European contribution to it, and that those members of that Alliance who do not belong to WEU should be kept fully informed. The modified Brussels treaty provides for close co-operation between the WEU and NATO.