The reshaping of WEU

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After going through periods of quasi extinction and periods of revitalization, the Western European Union finally handed over the baton to the European Union in the field of crises management. The increasing military dimension of the EU thus called for a thorough reorganization of the WEU. The ending of its operational activities, including the merging of the Satellite Center and of the Institute for Strategic Studies in the EU, will permanently cut its prerogatives in crises management. It will also call for a new focus of its functions towards a discussion forum on matters of security, defense and armament. The WEU, whose survival is only due to the preservation of Article V of its treaty in which lies a provision for collective defense, will now only exist as a political arena for consultation and exchange between its 28 members States. In this configuration, the WEU will no longer be a separate and major actor of European security. – Summary AFRI-2001