§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proposals were put by the United Kingdom to the meeting of Western European Union Defence and Foreign Affairs Ministers in Lisbon on 15 May. [25292]
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§ Mr. SoamesThe WEU Ministerial Council met to consider a number of issues, including the contribution that we expect the WEU to make to the 1996 intergovernmental conference to review the provisions of the Maastricht treaty, and the internal development of the WEU itself to provide it with new decision-making and planning mechanisms and structures. The WEU Council also met associate partners to review progress on a study of the new security conditions in Europe. The UK has made a significant contribution to the debate on all these topics, both at the ministerial meeting and in the preceding months. In particular, we have made proposals for the development of the WEU as the defence arm of the European Union, which were set out in the "Memorandum on the UK's approach to the treatment of European defence issues at the 1996 Inter-Governmental Conference", a copy of which is in the Library of the House. WEU Ministers welcomed the UK's contribution in this regard, as noted in the Lisbon declaration, a copy of which will be placed in the Library of the House shortly. The UK has also worked with Italy to develop proposals for a WEU task force for humanitarian missions, which Ministers endorsed at Lisbon.