Paris, 03/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Chairman of the WEU Council Antonio Martins da Cruz informed the Assembly of Western European Union that the European Union should not take collective defence policy upon itself as this would mean the possibility of risking consensus on ESDP. According to the Portuguese Minister of foreign Affairs, the fight against terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of massive destruction should be added to the Petersberg tasks. He also came out in support of the creation of a European weapons agency based on the Western European Armaments Group, which brings together 19 countries under the leadership of the WEU and which could then be incorporated into the EU, as was the case with the WEU Satellite Centre and WEU Security Studies Institute. He also suggested that the High representative should have the right of initiative and be supported by an assistant.
The WEU Chairman (who will soon be leaving this post), Klaus Bühler, said that he was "disappointed" by the "defence" group's draft report at the European Convention (see EUROPE 30 November p 3) particularly because it proposes a "solidarity clause" if under terrorist attack but not a clause of territorial integrity. He wanted to know why the terrorist attacks of 11 September could not be considered as a "violation of territorial integrity". The German parliamentarian was also worried by what had filtered down from the Convention on the role of national parliaments. Mr Bühler considers that, "the collective participation of the national parliaments in ESDP does not bode well".