Paris, 10/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - At its plenary session in Paris last week (see EUROPE of 5 June, p.5 and 6 June, p.5) the Assembly of the Western European Union once more came down in favour of the creation of a European Armaments Agency, which, according to the report by Spain's Augustin Diaz de Mera, could results from a transformation of the Western European Armaments Group. By ado[ting the report by Diaz de Mera, the Assembly observed that the slow pace of the co-operation process regarding weapons in Europe was "extremely dangerous and frustrating for our defence industry". To remedy that, the Assembly recommends a method distinguishing: - the short and medium term, i.e., ongoing programmes, co-ordination of procurement and the launch of new programmes; - the long term, that should deal with the strengthening of basic European technology and the harmonisation of needs in joint capabilities. During the debate, several parliamentarians criticised the choice of the Joint Strike Fighter by several European countries, to the detriment of a European solution (see below).
In addition, the Assembly adopted reports by:
- Lluis Maria de Puig (Spain), regretting that commitments made in the framework of agreements on arms control are not always fully respected, and that the results were not totally irreversible. The Assembly calls on the WEU Council to take initiatives regarding the proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, and to encourage all member States to adopt a protocol over verification and control in annex to the Convention on biological weapons, even oif the United States does not subscribe to it.
- Edward O'Hara (United Kingdom) and Sam Cherribi (Netherlands) requesting that, in order to develop a "battlefield management capacity", the EU should extend the role of its Satellite Centre in Torréjon so as to include the use of teledetecting, communication, metereology, electronic surveillance and early-warning systems. According to the Assembly, in order to elaborate its space observation policy, the EU should use as a basis a document prepared by the French, German, Italian and Spanish Heads of Government.
In addition, the Italian Defence minister, Filippo Berselli, made a report on the meeting of ministers of the Western European Armaments Group, in Rome on 16 May, and which reached the conclusion that the WEAG should actively strive for the modernisation of the EU's defence capabilities. As for Italy's withdrawal from the A400M transport aircraft project, Mr. Berselli did not rule out that Italy may take part later: in addition, he justified the decision of the Italian Parliament in favour of purchasing the American fighter Joint Strike Fighter by the fact that Europe would not have a ground fighter aircraft for the next ten years, and that this aircraft complemented the Eurofighter project without competing with it.