Paris, 05/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - By adopting the Tayyibbe Gulek report (Turkey) and the Jean-Pierre Masseret report (France) at its plenary session in Paris, the WEU Assembly stated that ESDP cannot be limited to EU Member states and stressed the urgency of finding satisfactory arrangements so that the six European Atlantic allies not members of the EU and candidate countries for EU accession may participate in its elaboration and implementation. According to the Assembly, the "WEU must also be preserved as an organisation among 28, as reserve instrument to conduct projects that cannot be implemented by the EU". During the session, Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolay Sviranov stressed his country's will to join NATO and the EU and to participate fully in all aspects of ESDP, including its industrial dimension in the Western European Armaments Group (WEAG), of which Bulgaria is also seeking membership. In addition, the Assembly adopted reports by:
- George Lemoine (France) in favour of the creation of a European Intelligence Agency, starting by organising regular thematic meetings of the chiefs of national intelligence services and investing an increasing share of national defence budgets on intelligence gathering systems.. In addition, the European Satellite Centre of Torrejon should become a "real European Defence Imagery Office".
- Jan Dirk Blaaw (the Netherlands) who recommends Europe developing "well trained and well equipped special forces, with strategic airlift and sealift". The Assembly would also like a rapprochement between the EU and the United States in combating terrorism, but notes that "most European allies take the view that a pre-emptive strike against Iraq would violate UN-sponsored principles of non-aggression and State sovereignty".
- Giovanni Crema (Italy), who paces emphasis on public support for ESDP and believes that opinion surveys should be used more extensively for policy planning, and that these surveys should be co-ordinated better at European level (also see yesterday's EUROPE page 5).