Paris, 5 June: Italian Secretary of State for Defence Filippo Berselli said on 16 May that European governments must ensure that European industry maintains its capacity to provide the continent with the military equipment it needs and should step up their research and development effort. 
 
He was commenting on the meeting of the 19 Western European Armaments Group (WEAG) defence ministers in Rome on 16May, when it was stressed the organisation should take a “more proactive role” in modernising EU defence capability in order to meet its headline goal. WEAG is the only European organisation that finances defence research. 
 
Responding to criticism of Italy’s refusal to join the project to build the A400-M European tactical transport plane, he blamed the previous government for having locked itself into a fleet of C130-J’s by buying instead of leasing the equipment. This would overlap with the European transport plane, he said. But he did not rule out the possibility of Italy joining the project at a later stage. He justified the Italian Parliament Defence Committee’s decision on Tuesday to approve the purchase of US JSF combat aircraft by saying that Europe would not have a ground attack aircraft for another ten years, and that it complemented rather than competed with the projected Eurofighter. “There is absolutely no incompatibility” in acquiring both, he said. 
 
Asked by Bulgarian parliamentarian Valeri Tzekov about his country’s request to join WEAG, Mr Berselli said: “The biggest mistake would be to fail to realise the upheaval in former Warsaw Pact countries or to take account of their legitimate aspirations.” The presence of these countries “can only enrich our organisations.. (…) We have to try and forecast the future and not let the future overtake our decisions,” he added. 
 
He did not exclude Russia’s membership of NATO and the EU. The recent agreement to create the NATO-Russia Council was “the most historic event for the first century of the first millennium, because of the opportunity it opens up.” It is impossible to see today exactly where it will lead, but it is “a milestone in European history,” he added. “The dynamic is there – you cannot close your eyes to it.” 
 
In reply to other questions, he said he would ensure that the Assembly’s resolutions “will be treated with due attention,” that the so-called Europeanisation of SHAPE would have to “bear in mind our American allies, that he was “sure the (projected) European Armaments Group will be set up,”keeping open the possibility of acting within the wider forum of the WEAG or the EU. 
 
The report and recommendations may be downloaded from the WEU Assembly website, address below.