Paris, 20 December, 2006 – The WEU Assembly agreed on Wednesday that it should be revitalised to fulfil its role in overseeing European security and defence.

A report presented on behalf of the Committee for Parliamentary and Public Relations by Lord Russell-Johnston (United Kingdom, Liberal Group) affirmed categorically “that collective intergovernmental decision-making on security and defence at European level be matched by collective interparliamentary democratic scrutiny,” and noted that a joint parliamentary meeting in Brussels on 4-5 December focused on improving cooperation and coordination between the national parliaments and the European Parliament and revitalising the WEU Assembly.”

Commenting on the recommendation, Lord Russell-Johnston noted that the debate over the Assembly’s existence had come a long way from the original call for its abolition and replacement by the European Parliament. “It is now widely recognised that it would be a mistake to reduce the ability of national parliaments to scrutinise defence questions,” he said.

Speaking from the floor, Defence Committee Chairman Robert Walter (United Kingdom, Federated Group) went further. He said Article V of the modified Brussels Treaty which established the Assembly more than 50 years ago with 10 member states should be opened up for signature by all EU member countries. The process should be enshrined in a declaration on the future of Europe to be finalised by the incoming German EU Presidency in Berlin next March, he said.

He insisted that the Assembly should work on the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) in partnership with the European Parliament, but that there could be no military deployment that put troops’ lives at risk without the “express approval of national parliaments and governments.”
 
The report, which is entitled “The WEU Assembly: a tool for national parliaments” and was adopted unanimously, also called for national parliaments to step up their scrutiny over European security and defence and to gather information early enough to influence policy ahead of intergovernmental meetings. WEU national parliaments should “unite their efforts in asserting their individual and collective responsibility within Europe’s future institutional framework to exercise scrutiny over all areas of intergovernmental policy, and especially security and defence,” it said.

Parliaments should “use every endeavour to obtain the necessary information enabling them to form political positions at a European interparliamentary level and sustain them vis-à-vis governments in advance of intergovernmental meetings at European level rather than after the event,” it added.