Paris, 1 December 2003: Assembly President Marcel Glesener (Federated Group, Luxembourg) on Monday asked for clarification about the “compromise wording” which the EU Foreign Ministers came up with on Saturday in Naples regarding “the possible inclusion of a mutual defence clause in the EU’s Constitutional Treaty” and the procedures and conditions for structured cooperation on defence.
Giving his opening address at the start of the second part of the Assembly’s 49th session, Mr Glesener considered that this compromise left open some important questions such as how such a mutual defence clause would differ from that of Article V of the 1954 modified Brussels Treaty which provides a link between the ten WEU member states and other EU or non-EU countries.

The President raised three other questions, also left unanswered in Naples :
• What criteria must be met to subscribe to the mutual defence clause?
• Who will provide the military guarantee of such a commitment for those countries which are not members of the Atlantic Alliance?
• How can the non-EU European allied countries be involved in cooperation of this sort?

Mr Glesener also expressed concern about the fact that the conclusions of the Naples conclave did “not leave much hope” as regards “the collective role of the national parliaments in areas subject to intergovernmental cooperation”. He insisted that intergovernmental cooperation on security in the EU should be mirrored by European interparliamentary cooperation, and considered that the “interests of the member states and of their national parliaments would be better served if the EU Council was under the obligation to inform and consult an interparliamentary forum composed of the representatives of the national parliaments”.
Mr Glesener hoped that his successor as President of the Assembly (who is to be elected during the session) would enjoy even greater support from the WEU parliamentarians. He said he had strongly encouraged all members of the Assembly, and particularly the delegation leaders, to do their utmost to explain and defend WEU’s positions to their governments and in their parliaments.