Paris, 4 June: The WEU Assembly on Tuesday came out in favour of a European security concept that was as “inclusive as possible”, so as to enable the member countries of the organisation which are not yet EU or NATO members to play their full part in ESDP. 
In their report submitted on behalf of the Political Committee, Mr Jean-Pierre Masseret (France, Soc) and Ms Tayyibe Gülek (Turkey) pointed out that “the de facto cessation of WEU’s crisis-management activities at 28, following the decisions taken by the European Council, places a responsibility on the EU to find satisfactory arrangements for the participation of the non-EU European NATO members and the seven EU applicant countries in the framing and implementation of the ESDP”. In their view, after 11 September, the new threats to security show that the ESDP cannot be limited to the EU member states” and that it “calls for real partnership with other European countries”. 
The Assembly felt that it was all the more urgent to conclude such an arrangement in view of the fact that, in the current circumstances, the EU was “not in a position to conduct an operation for the purpose of the most demanding Petersberg missions without having recourse to NATO assets and capabilities”. It also advocated maintaining “WEU as an organisation at 28 as a reserve tool for the possible implementation of projects which cannot be carried out by the EU”.