Paris, 14/11/2002 (Agence Europe) - Members of the Assembly of the Western European Union headed by the Assembly's Vice-President Jan Dirk Blaauw met the President of the WEU Permanent Council, Portuguese Ambassador Jose Luis Pereira, last week, and the Chairman of the EU's Political and Security Council (PSC), Tryphon Paraskecopoulos. With the latter, they spoke, in particular, of the possibility of the European Union taking over from NATO in Macedonia (operation Amber Fox) and the prospects of an EU/NATO agreement following the breakthrough of the European Council of Brussels on the participation of European allies not members of the EU in ESDP operations.
An Assembly press release states that the parliamentarians also questioned the Chairman of PSC on the EU's intentions regarding the future of the UN peacekeeping mission on Cyprus, when the island has become a Member state of the Union. According to the press release, while noting that the first "Petersberg"-type tasks should focus on the Balkans, the Caucasus and the Mediterranean, Mr. Paraksevopoulos did not rule out, in future, operations in Africa or South East Asia.