3. The Institutions and their Development

A. The Western European Union (WEU)

Originally the Brussels Treaty Organization (see European Political and Military Cooperation in the Post-War Period), founded in 1948, comprised the UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. It was renamed the Western European Union (WEU) in 1954 with the accession of West Germany and Italy. The WEU was and still is an organization independent of, though with close ties to, the European Community.

The WEU's military function was effectively made irrelevant by the formation of NATO. For almost forty years up to the 1990s the WEU constituted a loose coordinating body and forum for the discussion of security issues amongst European countries.

Beginning in 1988 the WEU expanded, with the following countries joining (as full members, except where stated):

Portugal and Spain - 1988
Iceland, Norway and Turkey (Associate status) - 1992
Ireland, Denmark, Austria, Finland and Sweden (Observer status) - 1992
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria (Associate status) - 1994
Greece - 1995

In the last decade the WEU has re-emerged as an increasingly significant institution in the movement towards closer political and military union. Under the Maastricht Treaty (1992) it was envisaged that the operational role of the WEU would be strengthened, with a planning cell, closer military cooperation, regular meetings of Chiefs of Defense Staff and more cooperation in the armaments field with the aim of creating a European armaments agency.

The Luxembourg declaration of 1993 defined the WEU as the European pillar of NATO. French and German leaders have considered various proposals for developing the WEU as the military arm of the EU.

The Nice Treaty provided for the incorporation of the WEU's crisis management capacity into the EU, but a full and complete merger has yet to be completed. In addition, the WEU remains militarily dependent on NATO, and in particular the US, for logistical and surveillance support and all forces under the WEU simultaneously operate under NATO (see The military of the US and the EU members compared).

B. European Political Cooperation (EPC) (1970-1992)

Established in 1970 following the Luxembourg Report, European Political Cooperation (EPC) constituted an intergovernmental forum for policy consultation and the exchange of information between EC member states. Like the WEU, EPC was outside and independent of the formal EC structures.

The failure of EPC members to effectively coordinate a response to the OPEC oil price rises in 1973 contributed to a failure to move further forward with EPC in the 1970s. By the mid-1980s the widening and deepening of the EC called for further efforts to coordinate a foreign policy to lend the EC international political weight commensurate with its economic weight.

As a consequence the Single European Act (SEA) (1986) sought to formalize EPC by committing EC member states to a readiness "to coordinate their positions more closely on the political and economic aspects of security" (Title III Article 30). In addition the SEA created an EPC secretariat to help facilitate coordination. However, while EPC may have been enhanced, there was nevertheless a tension between on the one hand, the political and economic aspects of security and on the other, the military aspect. EPC concerned the former but the latter was completely absent.

C. Eurocorps (1993-)

Eurocorps is a European military force inaugurated by Chancellor Helmut Kohl and President Francois Mitterand in 1992. Thus far, it has served in a peacekeeping role in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. Its headquarters is located in Strasbourg, France.

Some additional facts about Eurocorps:

• Eurocorps was designed for use in peacekeeping and crisis management operations.
• All forces assigned to Eurocorps are simultaneously assigned to NATO and if required to take action will be reliant on NATO for support services.
• Eurocorps became operational in 1995 with 50,000 troops drawn from the French, German, Belgian, Luxembourg and Spanish armies. The Belgians contributed approximately 20,000 soldiers.
• Eurocorps is open to all WEU members and the Netherlands, Italy and Poland have all signaled an interest in contributing troops.
• While Eurocorps is sometimes regarded as a European Army, its reliance on NATO for support effectively undermines its independence. In other words, Eurocorps as it stands today is more a symbol of the desire to create a European military capacity, than a fully-fledged European Army.