Brussels, 21/02/2000 (Agence Europe) - The new President of the Assembly of the Western European Union, Klaus Buhler, met Javier Solana (as WEU Secretary General) in Brussels last week and the WEU Permanent Council, as well as NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson.
Talking to journalists, Mr. Buhler raised the issue of parliamentary control of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (and defence) in future, following the transfer of certain WEU roles to the EU, given that at present the European Parliament is not competent for this field. Mr. Buhler said that the Political Committee of the WEU Assembly was currently preparing a report on the issue that it would be examining at an extraordinary meeting in Lisbon on 21 and 22 March (See EUROPE of 18/19 October 1999, p.9, and 20 October, pages 3 to 6, on the extraordinary meeting of the Assembly in Luxembourg, already devoted to the problem of the parliamentary control of European Security and Defence Policy and the future of the Assembly).