Brussels, 31/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - A follow-up conference on the parliamentary dimension of the Common European Security and Defence Policy (CESDP) will be held at the Belgian Federal Parliament buildings in Brussels on 6/7 November, convened by the President of the Senate, Armand De Decker, and the President of the Chamber of Representatives, Herman De Croo, and attended by Members of the European Parliament and three members from each of the parliaments of the fifteen Member States (which means that the members of the WEU Assembly will also be able to attend since they are national deputies). The conference will adopt a declaration on the parliamentary dimension of the CESDP with a view to presenting the Laeken (Brussels) European Council with proposals on a parliamentary transition solution for the Common Security and Defence Policy. The CESDP currently lacks sufficient parliamentary control since the European Parliament does not have powers when it comes to defence matters.
The issue will be examined at the earliest at the next Intergovernmental Conference on the review of the Treaty. The President of the WEU Assembly, Klaus Bühler, repeated to us that an ad hoc body would be needed, an ad hoc assembly even, for this transition period. The WEU Assembly is competent for defence matters and has not been absorbed into the Union since it has to monitor Article 5 of the WEU Treaty, which is the heart of the collective defence set up by this organisation that the EU has not absorbed, pointed out Mr Bühler.
The WEU Assembly's Political Committee voted a "recommendation" on 18 October (see EUROPE of 19 October, p.7) outlining: (unofficial translation) "The Assembly proposes that the parliamentary surveillance of the ESDP be organised during the interim period through the establishment of synergy between existing parliamentary institutions, in other words the WEU Assembly and the European Parliament. In order to do this, it will be necessary to set up a cooperation mechanism between the WEU Assembly and the European Parliament, including regular joint meetings where the competent bodies of the European Union would report on the ESDP. In the framework of their respective powers, the two parliamentary bodies would support their work on such reports without changing existing treaties. Under these conditions, the Brussels conference on 6/7 November 2001 should conclude with a declaration calling on the European Parliament and the WEU Assembly to organise co-operation to this end, and calling on the relevant governments to jointly report to them."