Extracts from the WEU Ministerial Council
Platform on European Security Interests
The Hague, 27 October 1987
Stressing the dedication of our countries to the
principles upon which our democracies are based and resolved to
preserve peace in freedom, we, the Foreign and Defence Ministers
of the member States of WEU, reaffirm the common destiny which
binds our countries.
We recall our commitment to build a European union
in accordance with the Single European Act, which we all signed
as members of the European Community. We are convinced that the
construction of an integrated Europe will remain incomplete as
long as it does not include security and defence.
An important means to this end is the modified Brussels
Treaty. This Treaty with its far-reaching obligations to collective
defence, marked one of the early steps on the road to European
unification. It also envisages the progressive association of
other States inspired by the same ideals and animated by the like
determination. We see the revitalisation of WEU as an important
contribution to the broader process of European unification.
We intend therefore to develop a more cohesive European
defence identity which will translate more effectively into practice
the obligations of solidarity to which we are committed through
the modified Brussels and North Atlantic Treaties.
We highly value the continued involvement in this
endeavour of the WEU Assembly which is the only European parliamentary
body mandated by treaty to discuss all aspects of security including
defence.
* * *
Under these conditions 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.
The partnership between the two sides of the Atlantic rests on
the twin foundations of shared values and interests. Just as the
commitment of the North American democracies is vital to Europe's
security, a free, independent and increasingly more united Western
Europe is vital to the security of North America.
* * *
The Member States of WEU intend to assume fully their
responsibilities
a. In the field of Western defence
We recall the fundamental obligation of Article V
of the modified Brussels Treaty to provide all the military and
other aid and assistance in our power in the event of armed attack
on any one of us. This pledge, which reflects our common destiny,
reinforces our commitments under the Atlantic Alliance, to which
we all belong, and which we are resolved to preserve.
It is our conviction that a more united Europe will
make a stronger contribution to the Alliance, to the benefit of
Western security as a whole. This will enhance the European role
in the Alliance and ensure the basis for a balanced partnership
across the Atlantic. We are resolved to strengthen the European
pillar of the Alliance.
We are each determined to carry our share of the
common defence in both the conventional and the nuclear field,
in accordance with the principles of risk-and burden-sharing which
are fundamental to allied cohesion.
- In the conventional field, all of us will continue
to play our part in the on-going efforts to improve our defences.
- In the nuclear field also, we shall continue
to carry our share: some of us by pursuing appropriate cooperative
arrangements with the US; the UK and France by continuing to maintain
independent nuclear forces, the credibility of which they are
determined to preserve.
We remain determined to pursue European integration
including security and defence and make a more effective contribution
to the common defence of the West.
To this end we shall:
- ensure that our determination to defend any member
country at its borders is made clearly manifest by means of appropriate
arrangements;
- improve our consultation and extend our coordination
in defence and security matters and examine all practical steps
to this end;
- make the best possible use of the existing institutional
mechanisms to involve the Defence Ministers and their representatives
in the work of WEU;
- see to it that the level of each country's contribution
to the common defence adequately reflects its capabilities;
- aim at a more effective use of existing resources,
inter alia by expanding bilateral and regional military cooperation,
pursue our efforts to maintain in Europe a technologically advanced
industrial base and intensify armaments cooperation;
- concert our policies on crises outside Europe
insofar as they may affect our security interests.
Emphasising the vital contribution of the non WEU
members of the Alliance to the common security and defence, we
will continue to keep them informed of our activities.
* * *
c. In the field of East-West dialogue and cooperation
* * *
It is our objective to further European integration.
In this perspective we will continue our efforts towards closer
security cooperation, maintaining coupling with the United States
and ensuring conditions of equal security in the Alliance as a
whole.
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