Paris, 12 June 2002: In the presence of European Ambassadors and Military Attachés, the Assembly will be commemorating the tenth anniversary of the Petersberg Declaration on international crisis management. The ceremony will take place on 19 June 2002 at 12.30, at the headquarters of the Assembly, 43 avenue du President Wilson, 75016 Paris. President Bühler is to give a speech on extending the Petersberg missions to include the fight against international terrorism, making it a major concern of the EU’s European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). EU member states have longstanding experience in combating terrorism at national level. 
 
On 19 June 1992, WEU Ministers agreed at the Petersberg Conference Centre in Bonn on the scope of the crisis management tasks that WEU should be able to assume. These include humanitarian and rescue missions, peacekeeping and missions of combat forces in crisis management, including peacemaking (now known as the ‘Petersberg missions’). 
 
In the context of the Maastricht Treaty, when the EU added the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) to its political agenda, WEU became the defence arm of the European Union. The revision of the Treaty on European Union in Amsterdam in 1997 brought the ‘Petersberg missions’ into the Treaty. 
 
The Petersberg concept still forms the basis of what is today the emerging crisis-management capability of the European Union. With the decisions taken in 1999 by the Cologne and Helsinki European Councils, the EU embarked on the establishment of its own crisis-management capabilities and the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). 
 
Ten years after the Petersberg Declaration, the Assembly of WEU is calling for an update of the missions with a view to including the fight against international terrorism among the tasks of the ESDP. Terrorism is a global threat and the ESDP should therefore take a global view. The EU, with its unique possibility of combining civil and military means, should defuse the political tensions and social injustices that provide the breeding-ground for hatred and terrorism, while at the same time, governments should urgently tackle the serious shortfalls in European military capabilities. The ESDP as it stands now does not allow EU member states to play a full role in international affairs after 11 September. 
 
Media representatives wishing to participate in the ceremony are kindly requested to call the Assembly’s press service at 00 33.1.53.67.24.79 or to mail it at press@assembly.weu.int. The President’s speech will be available on the Assembly website as of 19 June 2002. A report presented by John Wilkinson, MP, (UK) on “European military capabilities and the fight against terrorism” can be downloaded here.