Brussels, 21/08/2003 (Agence Europe) - The Assembly of Western European Union - The Interparliamentary European Security and Defence Assembly is organising a conference on the theme "New Scenarios for European Security and Defence" for 22 to 24 September in Baveno (Lago di Maggiore) with the Italian Presidency of the European Union and Western European Union Councils.
The conference will be opened by Pieferdinando Casini, President of the Italian House of Representatives, Marcel Glesener, President of the WEU Assembly, and Marco Zacchera, Chair of the Italian delegation to the WEU Assembly. Sessions will be devoted to the following themes:
- Security in Europe and stabilisation in the Middle East, with Italian government representative Franco Angioni, former commander of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNFIL), and representatives of universities of Israel and Palestine.
- Foreign policy and common defence in the future European Constitution, with Deputy Prime Minister of Italy Gianfranco Fini, Italian Senator Lamberto Dini, Italian Deputy Valdo Spini, the Polish Minister for European Affairs, Danuta Hübner, WEU Assembly Member Antonio Nazaré Pereira, all members of the European Convention.
- European Defence: operational requirements and industrial competitiveness, with Dutch Minister for Defence Henk Kamp, representatives of the WEAG Netherlands (Western European Armaments Group), Staff Representatives of EADS and EDIG, as well as Giorgio Zappa, Alenia Aeronautica President, and Admiral Giampaolo di Paola, National Director of Armaments at Italy's Ministry of Defence.
Marcel Glesener, the new Luxembourg President of the WEU Assembly, said that, "together with the Italian Presidency - for which giving the European Union a strong and significant role in the Middle East and successfully preparing the forthcoming Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) are top priorities - we have set ourselves an ambitious conference goal". Mr Glesener noted that the meeting "will take place shortly before the IGC" (Ed.: scheduled to begin on 4 October in Rome), and hoped the conference in Baveno would "contribute to clarifying the potential and limitations of the European Union as a player in international crisis management".