DOCUMENT A/1774 |
25 March 2002 |
II. Activities of the Permanent Council and the Council
Working Group (CWG)
III. Activities of the WEU Military Committee (MC)
IV. Activities of the Military Delegates Committee (MDC)
V. Activities of the Politico-Military Group (PMG)
VI. Activities of the Politico-Military Working Group (PMWG)
VII. Activities of the Military Staff (MS)
VIII. Activities of the Open Skies Experts Group
IX. Activities of the Space Group
X. Activities of the WEU Satellite Centre
XI. Activities of the Western European Armaments Group (WEAG)
XII. Activities of the Western European Armaments Organisation Research Cell (WRC)
Document A/1774 |
25 March 2002 |
Second part of the forty-seventh annual report
of the Council to the Assembly on the activities of the Council
(1 July to 31 December 2001)
Under the Belgian Presidency of WEU, priority was given to completing the transition tasks arising from the transfer of the Organisation's crisis management functions to the European Union.
From 2 July 2001, the Secretariat-General was ready to fulfil the residual tasks identified by the WEU Ministerial meeting in Marseilles. This meant that adequate logistic support was effectively provided to WEAG/WEAO - indeed, the scale of their activities led them to expand further at the Organisation's new Headquarters at 15, rue de l'Association, Brussels.
Support for the Satellite Centre and the Institute for Security Studies continued. Various documents relating to their respective programmes of activities were circulated to delegations and, where appropriate, endorsed or taken note of by the Council.
The WEU De-mining Assistance Mission in Croatia (WEUDAM), the last WEU operation, closed down on schedule on 30 November 2001
As foreseen, the various Eurogroup working bodies were wound up.
The Secretariat-General implemented the Social Plan agreed by Ministers at the Marseilles WEU Ministerial Council of November 2000. The Régence building was vacated according to the schedule agreed with the landlord, whilst most of the Organisation's assets were disposed of at the same time.
During the period 1 July to 31 December 2001, the Council considered the follow-up to be given, in the context of WEU, to the establishment, by the European Union, of a European Union Institute for Security Studies and a European Union Satellite Centre. The Ad Hoc Group, chaired by the Head of the Secretariat, continued to meet to prepare decisions to be taken by the Council in this respect. On 21 November 2001, the Council decided that there should be an Administrative Service functioning in Paris but forming an integral part of the Secretariat-General, to provide follow-up of the WEU Headquarters agreements and manage the WEU building in Paris. On 18 December 2001, the Council decided to appoint Mr R. Loutz, Clerk Assistant for Administration and Finance of the WEU Assembly, as Administrator of the Administrative Service in Paris as of 1 January 2002.
Regarding the WEU Satellite Centre, the Council authorised the extension of the Satellite Centre Geographical Information System (GIS) distribution list for Balkan region products to include the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union, NATO and the OSCE.
The Council also authorised the provision of the Satellite Centre GIS on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) to the EUROCORPS.
The Council adopted two Satellite Centre tasks as WEU Council tasks, covering Afghanistan/Pakistan and FYROM respectively.
The Council approved a decision to support NATO Exercise STRONG RESOLVE 02 with products of the WEU Satellite Centre.
Finally with regard to the WEU Satellite Centre, and in view of the future European Union Satellite Centre from 1 January 2002, the Council authorised WEU classified documents held by the WEU Satellite Centre prior to 1 January 2002 to be made "releasable to the European Union".
With regard to the EUROGROUPS and their having been placed into dormancy with effect from 30 June 2001, the Council agreed that key EUROGROUP documentation be made available to the European Union and NATO. A record of their legacy was compiled by the Eurogroup Secretary, who left at the end of November 2001, in accordance with the Council's decisions. This compilation and the associated CD-ROM were sent to the European Union and NATO. The Secretariat-General remains at the disposal of their relevant interested bodies to make available any additional classified or unclassified information.
Throughout the period under consideration, the Council continued to take note of the monthly reports from the WEU De-mining Assistance Mission (WEUDAM) in Croatia. In accordance with the practical arrangements annexed to the J.4.2 decision of 9 November 1998, these reports continued to be transmitted to the European Union.
In view of the end of the WEUDAM mission on 30 November 2001, the handover of equipment to the Croatian authorities was completed, in accordance with the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding. The Head of Mission, Colonel Gelin (Swedish Army), submitted a final report drawing a number of lessons from what has been a successful endeavour, albeit one limited in scope given the magnitude of the challenge to free Croatian territory from the scourge of landmines.
On 23 November 2001, a closing down and mission award ceremony took place in Zagreb, at which the Secretary-General was represented by the Head of the Secretariat.
Finally, the Council was kept informed on WEAG and WEAO matters. On 19 November 2001 the Council took note of an information report on the 17th meeting of WEAG National Armaments Directors held in Baveno, Italy, on 8-9 October 2001 and noted also the WEAG Chair Terms of Reference. On 13 December 2001, the Council took note of the Decision Sheet of the WEAO Board of Directors following the latter's meeting on 9 October 2001.
No meetings of the WEU Military Committee were held during the period 1 July 2001 to 31 December 2001.
Pursuant to the decisions taken by WEU Ministers at Marseilles in November 2000, and following the decision of the Council of 25 June 2001, the Military Delegates Committee (MDC) and its Working Group (MDWG) have been transferred into a "dormant" status in their present configuration.
No meetings of the Military Delegates Committee or of its Working Group took place during the period 1 July 2001 to 31 December 2001.
PMG at 21
No meeting was held by the PMG at 21.
PMG at 28
No meeting was held by the PMG at 28.
The meetings of the PMWG have been suspended pursuant to the decisions taken at the Marseilles Ministerial Council in November 2000.
Joint WEU/NATO Exercise Study 2001 (JES 01)
Following the holding of Exercise JES 01 in Noordwijk (NL) from 11 to 15 June 2001, a combined WEU-NATO team carried out an evaluation of JES 01. The Joint Post-Exercise Discussion (JPXD) was held at WEU HQ on 3 July 2001 and the Final Exercise Report (FER) was issued on 13 July 2001 and distributed to all WEU and NATO nations, to nations that had observed the Exercise Study (the Russian Federation and Ukraine) and to the European Union. The WEU Council took note of the Final Exercise Report on 27 July 2001.
Given the cessation of the operational functions of the WEU Military Staff, there will be no further references to the Military Staff in future Council reports to the Assembly.
The meetings of the Open Skies Experts Group have been suspended pursuant to the decisions taken at the Marseilles Ministerial Council.
No meetings of the Space Group were held during the period 1 July 2001 to 31 December 2001.
Secure communications links were maintained with the SATCEN for the period running from 1 July to 31 December 2001.
As a consequence of the adoption of the Council Joint Action of 20 July 2001 on the establishment of a European Union Satellite Centre, the Satellite Centre was heavily involved, during the second half of 2001, in the activities necessary to ensure a smooth transition from WEU to the European Union.
Apart from the above, other activities have taken place:
During this period there were also many visitors to the Satellite Centre: the Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister, Josep Piqué, on 2 August 2001; a delegation from the Belgium National Geographic Institute, on 4 July 2001; the "Universidad Complutense de Madrid", on 10 July 2001; the Belgium School for NCOs, on 17 July 2001; CICODE, University of Alcala de Henares, on 19 July 2001; SPOT Image, on 24 July 2001; the CNES, on 27 July 2001; and the XL Monographic Course (EALADE/CESEDEN), on 3 October 2001.
The National Armaments Directors (NADs) of the 19 Western European Armaments Group (WEAG) Member States met in Baveno (Italy) on 8-9 October 2001 under the Italian Chairmanship of WEAG.
Discussions at the meeting mainly focused on the future of WEAG and WEAO, as well as on the Panels' activities and on the work of the Group of National Experts (GNE) on the Masterplan for a European Armaments Agency (EAA).
NADs tasked the Staff Group to:
A new subgroup on Naval Mine Warfare (NMW) was created and other possibilities are being further investigated in the Air and Maritime Areas. Progress was made on the participation of WEU Associate Partners in Panel I activities. The transfer of the existing Panel I databases to the Armaments Secretariat was agreed. Furthermore, the time has come for Panel I to identify priorities, taking into account the developments in the Headline Goal and the Defence Capabilities Initiative.
A start was made on establishing the first European Research Grouping. Panel II was tasked to develop intercommunication between European Test Centres and to step up the advertising of their capabilities using modern media, such as newsletters and web sites. Panel II was also tasked, in cooperation with the GNE/EAA, to propose an update of the Research Principles annexed to the WEAO MOU in order to take into account the implementation of the EUROPA MOU. The WEAG Annual Research & Report Plan (WARRP) 2001 was issued and Panel II has been tasked to implement it. Finally, the involvement in open R&T events of WEU Associate Partners, and of other nations on a case-by-case basis, was endorsed, subject to NADs' approval.
Panel III was encouraged to apply its prioritised Action Plan, more especially with a view to achieving concrete results. A new simplified European Defence Equipment Market (EDEM) data-monitoring system is due to be tested starting in January 2002. Panel III was tasked to assess the European Commission proposal to WEAG on European Standardisation and to recommend a way forward to NADs at their 2002 Spring meeting. A document on maintaining design expertise and the conclusions of a document concerning WEAG's common understanding on the application of Article 296 in the case of mergers were approved.
The work done by the Group of National Experts on the Masterplan for the European Armaments Agency (GNE/EAA) is in accordance with the Masterplan and the specific tasks given to the GNE/EAA. On the issue of weighted votes, some countries, including Portugal and Turkey, prefer to keep the principle of "one nation, one vote". On the procedure proposed to ensure equal status of all WEAG Member States in WEAO, the WEAO Board of Directors was recommended to implement this procedure in the case of formal applications by the WEAG Member States concerned. The GNE/EAA was tasked to provide for the next NADs meeting its conclusive report, highlighting the key issues related to the principles of operation of the proposed EAA, such as competition, global balance and performance management of the proposed Agency. The report should include options and proposals for the resolution of any outstanding problems related to the key issues, in a format suitable for discussion and decision by WEAG Defence Ministers at their next meeting.
The WEAG NADs will meet in Turin (Italy) on 14-15 March 2001. On the occasion of this meeting, a joint Seminar with the European Defence Industry Group (EDIG) on "Armaments Cooperation in European Security and Defence" will take place. This seminar is seen as a demonstration of WEAG's effective interaction with industry and it is hoped the Seminar will further strengthen the relationship and lead to useful WEAG-EDIG joint initiatives. The next WEAG Defence Ministers' meeting is planned to be held in spring 2002.
Despite the contingencies of the removal and the setting up of the restructured Secretariat-General that the Western European Armaments Group Research Cell (WRC) depends on for its logistic support, it sustained the level of its activities in support of Panel II initiatives.
The latter translated into the notification of 11 EUCLID or SOCRATE contracts to European industry, with funding of EUR 20 465 451 by the governments involved and EUR 19 454 019 by the industrialists.
The Board of Directors met in Baveno on Tuesday, 9 October 2001, to approve the Organisation's 2002 budget and to take management measures falling within its remit, in particular on personnel issues.
EUROGROUPS
Based on MDC advice, the Council decided on 15 May 2001 to place all three Eurogroups into dormancy with effect from 30 June 2001. As of 1 July 2001, all work and meetings are suspended and the contract of the Permanent Secretary (Eurocom and Eurolongterm) has been terminated with effect from 30 November 2001.
During the second half of 2001, the Institute was obliged to work on two fronts: on the one hand, the administrative aspects of the transfer of the ISS to the European Union; and on the other, the European strategic debate.
Following the Council Joint Action of the Union adopted on 20 July 2001, it became imperative to finalise all negotiations on the legal, administrative, social and financial provisions to which the new institute would be subject, by 31 December 2001. Agreement by the 15 Member States on an operating budget for 2002 that would permit the Institute to assume its new identity without any problems on 1 January of the following year was also a necessity. Finally, new arrangements had to be worked out, in accordance with the Institute's new status, in such a way as to separate issues coming under the Union from those of WEU, while allowing the Institute to continue to function in the Paris premises on good terms with WEU organs as well as those of the WEU Assembly. The Director and the Head of Administration, with the support of all staff members of the ISS, devoted a major part of their energies and time to obtaining a successful outcome to those negotiations.
At the same time, and despite its reduced staffing and pressing administrative constraints, the Institute made it its business to maintain a certain level of activity during the second half of 2001. The tragic events of 11 September in the United States made that imperative all the more urgent: the Institute therefore refocused the transatlantic conference planned for that period on the strategic consequences of international terrorism. The details of those activities are to be found below.
The closure of the WEU Institute for Security Studies and the birth of the European Union Institute are without any doubt a major turning point. As an agency of the European Union, the Institute will now re-orientate its work, its working methods and its studies so as best to serve the European Union's Common Security and Defence Policy. At the same time, it will of course remain in close touch with all European countries, whether or not they are candidates for membership of the Union. In this respect, and over a period of more than ten years, a vast network of contacts has been built up by the WEU Institute, in particular with countries that are not members of the European Union. As one of its missions is to help create an increasingly common strategic culture on the European continent, the European Union's new Institute will ensure that this European strategic network initiated by the WEU is maintained, enriched and developed ever more closely.
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During the period 1 July to 31 December 2001, the Institute organised the following seminars under the auspices of the Belgian presidency of the European Union: _ for members of the PSC, a seminar on CFSP, in Tenneville (Belgium) _ in collaboration with the cabinet of the Belgian Minister for Defence, a seminar entitled Towards a European White Book, in Brussels.
As part of the Institute's transatlantic programme for 2001, the Institute organised a conference on Transatlantic relations and the new world disorder, in Brussels.
In the margins of the seminar on the White Book, the Institute organised a brainstorming session for the members of the PSC and the General Secretariat of the European Union Council on the strategic consequences of the terrorist attacks of 11 September for CFSP/ESDP.
The Institute subsidised the Halki International Seminars organised by ELIAMEP on Patterns of cooperation in SEE and the Black Sea Region and on Peace-Building: Security and Cooperation in the Mediterranean.
During this period the Institute published Chaillot Papers 48, Nuclear weapons: a new Great Debate by Thérèse Delpech, Shen Dingli, Lawrence Freedman, Camille Grand, Robert A. Manning, Harald Müller, Brad Roberts and Dmitri Trenin, edited by Burkard Schmitt, 49, Enlargement: a new NATO by William Hopkinson (a former senior visiting fellow), and 50, What status for Kosovo? by Dana H. Allin, Franz-Lothar Altmann, Marta Dassù, Tim Judah, Jacques Rupnik and Thanos Veremis, edited by Dimitrios Triantaphyllou. It also published Newsletters 34 and 35. The Institute also published, in the Transatlantic Series, The 2001 Paris Transatlantic Conference, edited by Julian Lindley-French, following the conference Transatlantic Relations and the Bush Administration held on 21 and 22 June 2001.
The Institute also distributed Occasional Papers 28, Developing the `moral' arguments: Russian rhetorical strategies on security post-Kosovo by Charlotte Wagnsson (former visiting fellow), 29, The Challenge of Belarus, and European responses by Ramunas Davidonis (former visiting fellow), 30, Reconciling the Prince's two `arms' - International-external security policy coordination in the European Union by Ferruccio Pastore (former visiting fellow), 31, Aspects juridiques de la politique européenne de sécurité et de défense by Lydia Pnevmaticou (former visiting fellow), and 32, Managing separatist states: a Eurasian case study by Dov Lynch (former visiting fellow).
The Institute hosted several visiting fellows: Pernille Rieker (Norway), Jaap Ora (Estonia), Sander Huisman (Netherlands) and Gloria Ogayar Suarez (Spain) for periods of two months. Hans-Georg Ehrhart (Germany) and Veton Surroi (Kosovo) were also at the Institute for two months and one month respectively as senior visiting fellows.
In addition to their participation in several seminars and meetings in Paris and abroad, members of the research team held training and information sessions on the following occasions: an exposé at the parliamentary conference of the Belgian Senate, in Brussels; a presentation to a group of American institutional investors at the Institute, in Paris; an exposé for the Danish Joint Services Defence College, at the Institute in Paris; a presentation to course members of Central and Eastern European origin and from the Balkans at the European session of the IHEDN, in Paris; a lecture at the University of Athens; a lecture at the NATO Defence College, in Rome; an exposé at a meeting on the future of Europe at the Assemblée nationale, in Paris; a presentation to the POLARM working group of the European Union Council, in Brussels; a presentation at a round-table meeting organised by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, in Paris; a presentation at a seminar organised by the University of Birmingham and the RIIA, in London; an exposé at the Fifth Black Sea Strategy Group Meeting organised by the EastWest Institute of Kyiv and the International Center for Black Sea Studies, in Athens; a presentation at the European colloquium organised by the Conseil Economique de la Défense, in Paris; an exposé at the American University of Paris; a presentation at a conference organised by DGAP, in Berlin; an intervention at the 2001 Conference of the BISA, in Edinburgh.
