Paris, 3 December – The WEU Assembly felt that good progress had been made by European states in adapting their military capabilities to the new international strategic environment, although there was still some way to go on funding and policy coordination.

In a report submitted on Wednesday on behalf of  the Defence Committee, Mrs Manuela Aguiar (Portugal/Fed.) emphasised the very substantial progress that had been achieved in European cooperation at the operational level, in the field of crisis management at least, the only one at present covered by the ESDP. She referred to the “great leap forward” represented by the creation at Thessaloniki of “an intergovernmental agency in the field of defence capabilities development, research, acquisition and armaments”.

The Rapporteur said that the greatest weakness in Europe’s defence effort remained the low level of defence spending over the last 10 years. There was a widening gap between Europe and the United States, where investment in the vital area of research was six or seven times greater than the uncoordinated spending by European nations.

The Assembly recommended launching a debate on defence spending, a more rational use of resources and setting up a common fund for European defence forces, equipment, research and technology. Advocating a “change of approach”, Mrs Aguiar felt that there was a need not only for more but for better spending, while seeking a European route for day to day cooperation between nation states.