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The Western European Union in its current form is the military-political organization of the European Union (EU).
The WEU went through several stages in its development. In accordance with the Brussels Treaty on Economic, Social and Cultural Cooperation and Collective Self-Defence of 1949, the Brussels Treaty Organization, or the Western Union, was created, consisting of Belgium, Great Britain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and France. After the signing of the Paris Accords in 1954, the Western Union was renamed the Western European Union, and Germany and Italy also joined it. In 1988, Spain and Portugal became its members, in 1992 - Greece. The main goal of the WEU is to develop cooperation between the countries of Western Europe in the field of security and defense. In 1949, in connection with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty, the fulfillment of the military obligations of the Western Alliance was transferred to NATO. In 1987, the Council of Ministers of the Western European Union adopted the Platform on European Security Interests, in which it reaffirmed its determination to strengthen NATO's European structure.
The Treaty on the European Union, signed in December 1991 in Maastricht, adopted fundamentally important decisions regarding the common course of the European Union in the field of foreign policy and security, aimed at the gradual transformation of the WEU into the defense component of the EU. In December 1991, in Maastricht, the WEU member states adopted a Declaration, which reflected an agreement on the European Security and Defense Identity (ESDI) and on increased European responsibility in defense matters.
In the Petersberg Declaration, signed in June 1992 in Petersberg (near Bonn), the members of the WEU agreed to conduct the so-called "Petersberg missions" within the framework of the WEU. Three categories of missions were discussed, namely: humanitarian and rescue missions; peacekeeping missions; combat force missions in crisis management, including peacekeeping. Further merging of the WEU and the EU was enshrined in the Amsterdam Treaty of 1987. It noted that the WEU is an integral part of the development of the European Union and provides it with access to operational potential within the framework of the Petersberg missions, the provisions of which were included in the Amsterdam Treaty. The WEU should support the EU in developing the military aspects of the Common Deal in the field of foreign policy and defense, and the EU will develop closer institutional relations with the WEU with a view to the eventual integration of the WEU into the EU.
On the basis of the adopted decisions, the WEU creates the basis for involving in its activities all more countries. In addition to the ten member countries of the WEU (these countries are also members of NATO and the EU), there is a category of associate members. This status is granted to NATO member states that are not members of the EU (Iceland, Norway, Turkey, and after 1999 Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic), In 1994, the status of associated partner was introduced, granted to ten countries that are not members of NATO and EU (Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Estonia). After 2004, these countries changed their status. There is also observer status granted to Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Finland, Sweden (NATO and/or EU members).
The structure of the WEU includes the Council - supreme body WES. It meets twice a year at the level of foreign and defense ministers and twice a month at the ambassadorial level. To service the activities of the WEU, there is a General Secretariat, originally located in London, and since 1993 - in Brussels. The Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Military Planning Group have been established. The structure of the WEU also has a Parliamentary Assembly (located in Paris). The WEU does not have its own regular troops or military command and control systems. National units and units may be provided by the WEU for specific tasks. A decision was made to create a European Corps, in which Belgium, Germany, Spain, Luxembourg, France are ready to participate, as well as rapid reaction forces - Euro-for, consisting of forces from Spain, Italy, Portugal and France.
NATO actively supports the process of building a European Security and Defense Identity, seeing it as the European pillar of the Alliance through the WEU, which is being developed as the defensive pillar of the European Union. In this regard, NATO believes that if the WEU/EU takes on some kind of peacekeeping or peacekeeping mission, then there is no need to duplicate structures. It is better to use the staff structures that already exist at the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe than to create parallel ones. This once again emphasizes that NATO sees itself as the main security organization in Europe.
The WEU actively participates in peacekeeping operations both independently and jointly with NATO and other international organizations. Thus, the WEU participated in 1993-1995. in naval operations together with NATO, ensuring compliance with the embargo and sanctions regime in the Adriatic Sea established by UN Security Council resolutions. In 1993, the WEU assisted Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania in complying with the UN embargo on the Danube. In 1994-1996 The WEU police contingent supported the EU administration being established in Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina). The task of the police contingent was to assist the Bosnian and Croatian sides in the creation of police forces. In 1997, by decision of the WEU Council, a Multinational Consultative Element (MKPE) was deployed in addition to the Multinational Protection Force for Albania (MSFA) created by the decision of the UN Security Council of March 28, 1997 (resolution 1101). The purpose of the first operation led by the Council of the WEU was to assist the leadership of the Albanian police in various aspects police work, including during elections. All WEU member states, associate members, associate partners, observers took part in the WEU operation.
Whereas prior to 2000 the WEU had to deal with the development and implementation of European Union decisions on defense policy on the basis of the Maastricht decisions, in 2000 the EU and the WEU jointly decided that the responsibility for the future development of European security policy and defense must be taken over by the European Union. By the end of 2000, the functions and tasks previously entrusted to the WEU were transferred to the EU. Agreement was also reached to carry out the remaining tasks of the WEU within its substantially reduced structure with a small secretariat.
TEST QUESTIONS
1. Tell us about the main documents underlying the European security system.
2. What is the role of the OSCE in ensuring peace and stability in Europe?
3. Analyze the main provisions of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.
4. What can you tell us about peacekeeping operations within the OSCE?
5. The practice of conducting peacekeeping operations within the CIS.
6. Give a description strategic concept NATO.
7. NATO's role in crisis management.
8. Relations between NATO, the European Union and the Western European Union.
Literature
Moiseev E.G. Decade of the Commonwealth. International legal aspects of the CIS activity. - M., 2001.
NATO. Directory. Commemorative edition for the fiftieth anniversary of NATO. - Brussels, 1998.
Prague Summit and the transformation of NATO. Handbook-guide. - Brussels, 2003.
Kashlev Yu.B. pan-european process: yesterday Today Tomorrow. - M., 1990.
WESTERN EUROPEAN UNION, WEU(Western European Union, WEU) is a military-political union of European states.
It was created on the basis of the Treaty on Economic, Social and Cultural Cooperation and Collective Self-Defence, signed on March 17, 1948 in Brussels by Great Britain, France and the Benelux countries (Western Union). The reason for the signing of the treaty was the confrontation with Soviet Union. The Western European states considered it necessary to take measures to strengthen their own defense potential. Such a step was also dictated by the desire to guarantee Germany's fulfillment of the terms of surrender, and then the integration of the state of the Federal Republic of Germany, formed in 1949, into the Western sphere of influence. The treaty provided for the automatic application of the principle of collective defense in the event of an attack on one of the participating countries. The signatory powers of the Brussels Treaty invited Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Norway and Portugal to join.
From the very beginning of the military-political cooperation of the Western European states, two alternative development strategies emerged that remain relevant to this day. Britain advocated close cooperation with the United States in providing military security Western Europe within NATO, while France advocated the idea of a more independent European defense component from America.
The need for integration into the military-political Euro-Atlantic cooperation of the Federal Republic of Germany and the beginning of the process of Western European integration led to the transformation of the Western Union into the Western European Union (1954) with the inclusion of the Federal Republic of Germany and Italy.
During the Cold War, the role of the WEU was reduced to facilitating regular political dialogue among the European members of NATO, in which some problems of relations between countries were resolved, for example, the resolution of the Saar problem in the 1950s. The WEU has also been an important mediator between NATO, the UK and the EEC. However, due to the fact that 10 members of the WEU were simultaneously members of NATO, and also due to the lack of their own full-fledged military structure, the existence of the Western European Union was, to a certain extent, symbolic.
In the 1980s, the increased international political weight of the European Communities prompted a decision to "revive" the activities of the Western European Union. The Rome Declaration of 1984 proclaimed it the "European pillar" of the security system within NATO. Limited contingent European countries Under the flag of the WEU, he took part in the management of demining operations in the Persian Gulf in the late 1980s, the embargo of Yugoslavia in the Adriatic and on the Danube in 1992-1996, operations to prevent the crisis in Kosovo in 1998-1999.
With the signing of the Amsterdam Treaty of the EU and the start of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the functions of the WEU were gradually transferred to the European Union, despite the fact that the WEU treaty formally expires in 2004.
Such a transformation of the WEU became possible as a result of the UK's abandonment of its oppositional course towards European political cooperation in the fall of 1998, which marked the beginning of the European Security and Defense Policy of the EU.
The final decision to transfer to the European Union most of the powers and operational potential of the WEU was enshrined in the Marseilles Declaration of the EU in November 2001. According to this document, the WEU actually stopped its activities as an operational organization. The structures of the WEU were to be completely at the disposal of the EU in order to give military organization political weight. It was supposed to introduce a centralized command in the WEU with new powers and a new, unified concept of European defense. This was to make it a strong defensive organization capable of serving as a guarantor of stability in Europe. The process of integration of the WEU into the EU was actually completed by 2002.
At the same time, nominally, the WEU remains as a separate institution, whose competences are reduced to providing mutual guarantees of the participating countries in the event of aggression (the article on the automatic use of collective defense) and the annual report of the Council of this organization to the Parliamentary Assembly of the WEU. Obviously, such uncertainty in the status of the WEU will remain until the formal expiration of the treaty in 2004.
The EU strategy aimed at creating its own military institutions echoes Russia's position on the issue of building a multipolar world. In the mid-1990s, a number of initiatives were put forward for cooperation between the Russian Federation and the WEU (provision of Russian space images to the WEU satellite center, an agreement on the provision of Russian transport aviation WEU for the implementation of humanitarian and rescue operations, peacekeeping operations, the development of joint international legal problems, the development of inter-parliamentary relations, etc.). The degree of cooperation with this organization will largely depend on the pace and direction of the EU's military-political integration.
The WEU is composed of the following states:
– 10 full members (Belgium, Great Britain, Greece, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, France, Germany);
– 6 associate members, members of NATO, but not members of the EU (Hungary, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Turkey, Czech Republic);
– 5 observers, members of the EU, but not members of NATO (Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Finland, Sweden);
– 7 associated partners – Central and of Eastern Europe(Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia).
Andrey Motkov
unification of a number of states of Western Europe. Established under the Paris Agreements (signed in 1954, ratified in 1955), which amended the Brussels Treaty on Economic, Social and Cultural Cooperation and Collective Self-Defence between Belgium, Great Britain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and France (1948). These changes opened up the possibility of Germany and Italy joining the Brussels Pact. The objectives of the WEU are: to provide, in accordance with the UN Charter, military and other mutual assistance both in maintaining international peace and security, as well as in countering any aggressive policy; promoting the unity of Europe; close cooperation with NATO and the European Union; strengthening and ensuring democracy, personal and political freedom, constitutional traditions, respect for the law; strengthening economic, social and cultural ties between member states.
The WEU has 10 member states: Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy. Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, France. Associated members of the WEU - Iceland, Norway, Turkey. In addition, 9 countries have the status of associate partners of the WEU: Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Estonia. The structure of the WEU consists of: 1. Council of the Western European Union; 2. Permanent advice. Council Working Group; 3. Chiefs of Staff; 4. Planning headquarters; 5. Working groups: special working group, group of representatives of ministries of defense; 6. WEU Assembly; 7. Secretariat. The Ministerial Council of the WEU, composed of the ministers of foreign affairs and defense of the member states, meets twice a year in the capital city of the state currently presiding over the WEU. Since July 1, 1994, the chairman has changed every six months. This decision was taken by the WEU Council in 1993 to adjust the timing of the change of presidency to the same timing in European Union. The Council, as the highest body of the WEU, bears political and military responsibility for the activities of the organization. The Council may be convened at any time at the request of a Member State to discuss a situation that may pose a threat to peace or economic stability. The Permanent Council, composed of the ambassadors of the member states, usually meets once a week at WEU headquarters to ensure its smooth leadership. The General Secretary chairs the meetings. Council working group prepares weekly meetings Permanent Council. The heads of the general staffs of the member states meet twice a year on the eve of the regular meetings of the WEU Council (emergency meetings are possible). National delegations may be assigned military advisers whose task is to prepare opinions for the Council, to inform the planning staff of the opinions of the chiefs of general staff, and so on. control over the professional quality of the work of the Planning Staff. The Planning Headquarters, subordinate to the Council, is responsible for: preparing plans for the possible use of armed forces under the auspices of the WEU; development of recommendations for control systems, including standing office instructions for operational headquarters, created if necessary; maintaining lists of units and formations that can be allocated to the WEU for certain operations. Working groups have been created to assist the Council: 1. A special working group of representatives of the ministries of foreign affairs (political questions of European security); 2. Group of representatives of ministries of defense (military issues of European security); 3. Working committees on issues of space law, verification, the Open Skies Treaty, the Mediterranean, etc. The WEU Assembly consists of 108 deputies (with deputies) of the Brussels Pact member states in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. It meets twice a year and discusses all issues related to the activities of the WEU.
