Brussels, 23/02/2000 (Agence Europe) - On 21 February, the secretaries general of WEU and NATO, Javier Solana and George Robertson, told the press they were satisfied with the unfolding of the first joint exercise between the Western European Union and the Atlantic Alliance, CRISEX 2000, which had begun on 14 February (a definitive report on the exercise will require more indepth reflection, after it has ended).
The European Union "is observing this exercise and thus will be able to draw all relevant lessons for itself", stressed Javier Solana, who is also the EU Council Secretary General and EU High Representative for CFSP. He recalled that, in Helsinki, he had received the mandate of ensuring that WEU may help the EU to prepare its future security and defence responsibilities. The Union is "strongly committed to develop an effective EU-led crisis management capacity", said Mr Solana, who repeated that the EU hopes for "close complementarity with NATO and not competition". Lord Robertson, for his part, felt that Europe's "clear determination" to make rapid progress in this field shows that the time has come for "rebalancing of roles and responsibilities between Europe and North America".
The fictitious scenario on which the CRISEX exercise is based is as follows: a crisis situation in an island laid waste by ethnic clashes, with the result that tens of thousands of persons are displaced; an UN resolution calling for aid; the NATO decision to support WEU with its own means; the NATO and WEU decision to entrust the command of the operation to D-SACEUR (Deputy SACEUR).