Paris, 1 December – The WEU Assembly on Monday called for the development of a “European strategic concept” based on “the principle of autonomy of European action”.

Based on a report prepared for the Defence Committee by Mr Renzo Gubert (Italy/Fed), the Assembly recommended that the European Union should have an evolving strategic concept laying down broad guidelines for a given period of time, which would guarantee European autonomy of decision and action in political and military crisis management. The Assembly also recommended the establishment of a European Security Council made up of foreign affairs and defence ministers, supported in particular by a defence intelligence agency and a European agency responsible for harmonising operational requirements, programme development and coordination of defence research and technology.

The Assembly noted that the European Council, was to take a decision in Brussels on 12 and 13 December, on the revised draft of the strategic concept drawn up by Javier Solana, the CFSP High Representative, the initial draft of which was discussed at the EU Thessaloniki Council in June 2003.

In his report, Mr Gubert acknowledged the difficulty of “arriving at a single European strategy in which WEU, the EU and NATO were all involved that continued to be “determined by the transatlantic framework”. While “there could be no European strategic concept without some input from the United States, given existing alliances and multinational and bilateral agreements”, “at the same time, political developments in Europe, and in particular the reactions of European public opinion to the second Gulf war, have brought home the need for autonomous decision-making and action”.

In the Rapporteur’s view: “Without autonomy there can be no genuine transatlantic and international partnership, there can only be relations in which one party is subordinate to the other and takes the lead from it, rather than being proactive. Unless a new balance is struck in the transatlantic partnership, without a strong Europe that can contribute to security and to defence capabilities there can be no victory and no lasting peace in the combat against the new threats we face now and in the future”.