``The challenges we will face in this new Europe cannot be
comprehensively addressed by one institution alone, but
only in a framework of interlocking institutions tying
together the countries of Europe and North America. Conse-
quently, we are working towards a new European security
architecture in which NATO, the CSCE, the European
Community, the WEU and the Council of Europe comple-
ment each other. Regional frameworks of cooperation will
also be important. This interaction will be of the greatest
significance in preventing instability and divisions that could
result from various causes, such as economic disparities
and violent nationalism.''
Extract from the Rome Declaration on Peace and
Cooperation issued by the Heads of State and
Government participating in the meeting of the North
Atlantic Council in Rome on 7-8 November 1991.
88. THE CONFERENCE ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE (CSCE)
The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe
(CSCE) is a process involving all European States, all
members of the Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS), Georgia, Canada and the United States.
Launched in 1972, the CSCE process led to the adoption
of the Helsinki Final Act (1975). This document en-
compassed a wide range of commitments on principles
governing relations between participating states, on
measures designed to build confidence between them, on
respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms
and on cooperation in economic, cultural, technical and
scientific fields.
In accordance with the Helsinki Final Act it was decided
to continue and deepen the CSCE process. Follow-up
meetings were held in Belgrade (1977-1978), Madrid
(1980-1983), Vienna (1986-1989) and Helsinki (March-
July 1992). Meetings of experts have also taken place on a
number of different topics.
The CSCE has provided a pan-European/transatlantic
framework for negotiations in the field of security. The
participating states agreed in 1986 in Stockholm on a
Document on Confidence and Security Building Meas-
ures (CSBMs), completed and improved in 1990 by the
Vienna Document on CSBMs and subsequently by the
Vienna 1992 Document. On 19 November 1990, at the
opening of the CSCE Summit in Paris, 22 participating
states signed the far reaching CFE Treaty which limits
conventional forces in Europe from the Atlantic Ocean
to the Ural Mountains.
On 21 November 1990, the CSCE Summit Meeting of
Heads of State and Government of the then 34 participat-
ing states adopted the Charter of Paris for a New Europe.
The Charter established the Council of Foreign Ministers
of the CSCE as the central forum for regular political
consultations; the Committee of Senior Officials, which
reviews current issues, prepares the work of the Council
and carries out its decisions; and three permanent institu-
tions of the CSCE, namely the Secretariat in Prague; the
Conflict Prevention Centre in Vienna; and the Office for
Free Elections in Warsaw (subsequently renamed Office
for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
(ODIHR)). The new institutions of the CSCE started
work in early 1991.
On 19 June 1991, the Berlin Meeting of the CSCE
Council of Foreign Affairs accepted Albania as a new
participating state and adopted an emergency mechanism
to deal with crisis situations in the area covered by the
CSCE. On 10 September 1991, the Ministers of Foreign
Affairs meeting in Moscow accepted Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania as participating states. All members of the
Commonwealth of Independent States (i.e. all republics
of the former Soviet Union less Georgia) became mem-
bers on 30 January 1992. Croatia, Slovenia and Georgia
became members on 24 March 1992.
The decisions relating to security cooperation taken at
the conclusion of the Follow-Up Meeting in July 1992 by
CSCE Heads of State and Government represented a
significant qualitative improvement in the consultative
and negotiating machinery available to the participating
states. In the concluding document of the Helsinki
Summit Meeting (``The Challenges of Change'') the crea-
tion was announced, inter alia, of a permanent CSCE
Forum for Security Cooperation to commence its activi-
ties from 22 September 1992 in Vienna. The Helsinki
Document established the objectives of the Forum, under
whose auspices new negotiations on arms control, disar-
mament and confidence- and security-building will take
place; and set out the constitutional arrangements for the
work of the Forum including the creation of a Special
Committee and a Consultative Committee. The participat-
ing states also agreed on a fourteen-point Programme for
Immediate Action addressing, inter alia, the development
of the Vienna Document 1992, exchange of military infor-
mation, non-proliferation, regional issues, conflict preven-
tion and verification issues.
The European Community was established on the basis
of the Treaty of Rome signed on 25 March 1957 by
Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the
Netherlands. In 1973 they were joined by Denmark,
Ireland and the United Kingdom, in 1981 by Greece and
in 1986 by Spain and Portugal.
The European Community (EC) has developed from
the merger of the European Coal and Steel Community,
founded on 18 April 1951, with the European Economic
Community and the European Atomic Energy Community
(EURATOM) founded in 1957 under the Treaty of Rome.
Intergovernmental Conferences on Economic and Mon-
etary Union and Political Union took place from 15
December 1990 to 11 December 1991. At the Maastricht
European Council on 9 and 10 December 1991, the Heads
of State and Government of the Community countries
adopted a Treaty on Political Union, and a Treaty on
Economic and Monetary Union, which together form the
Treaty on European Union. The Treaty is subject to
ratification by all member states.
The Treaty on Political Union establishes inter alia a
common foreign and security policy governed by specific
provisions. The latter include reference to the Western
European Union as an integral part of the development
of the European Union; and request the WEU to elaborate
and implement decisions and actions of the Union which
have defence implications.
At the meeting of WEU Member States which took
place in Maastricht at the same time as the meeting of
the European Council, a declaration was issued inviting
members of the European Union to accede to the WEU or
to become observers, and inviting other European mem-
bers of NATO to become associate members of the WEU.
The Treaty on European Union also makes provision
for a further inter-governmental conference to evaluate
achievement made in both spheres; and for a report
evaluating the progress made and experience gained in
the field of foreign and security policy to be presented to
the European Council in 1996.
Hungary, Poland and the Czech and Slovak Federal
Republic have signed association agreements with the
EC. Talks are currently underway with Bulgaria and
Romania. Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Malta, Norway,
Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey have formally applied
for membership.
The main institutions of the Community are the Coun-
cil of Ministers, the Commission, the European Parlia-
ment and the Court of Justice. The Council consists of
one Minister from each member state. It acts mainly on
proposals from the Commission, a policy planning and
executive body whose 17 members, each appointed for
four years by the common consent of the member govern-
ments, act in the interests of the Community as a whole.
As well as drawing up policy proposals for approval by
the Council, the Commission also acts as the guardian of
Community laws and ensures their application in all
member states.
The European Parliament has 518 members. Until 1979
these were nominated by national legislative bodies from
among their own members. Direct elections to the Parlia-
ment commenced in June 1979. The Parliament considers
proposals from the Commission and has the right to
question individual Commissioners and, ultimately to
dismiss the Commission itself. These elements of demo-
cratic control have gradually been extended and the Parlia-
ment now has increased control over the Community
budget.
The final arbiter on Community law is the Court of
Justice. Its 12 judges, one from each member state, settle
disputes over the interpretation and application of Com-
munity law and have the power to overturn decisions
deemed to be contrary to the Treaties establishing the
Community. Its judgements are binding on the Commis-
sion, on national governments, on firms and individuals.
A major Community aim is greater integration of the
economies of its member states. The first step in this
direction was the introduction of a customs union, involv-
ing the elimination of the tariffs and quotas on trade
between member countries and the introduction of a
common tariff in dealings with non-member countries.
Establishment of a common agricultural policy was an
important aspect in setting up the customs union.
In 1985, the Commission proposed an ambitious pro-
gramme of legislative proposals designated to create a
single European market enabling goods, services, capital
and people to move freely within and between member
states. The Single European Act creating the Internal
Market comes into effect at the beginning of 1993 on
completion of this programme.
In the international context, agreements have been
made between the Community and other countries of the
Mediterranean area, in the Middle East, in South
America and in Asia. Sixty-eight African, Caribbean and
Pacific countries now belong to the Lome Convention.
Relations are being developed with the EFTA countries
and with the newly democratic countries of Central and
Eastern Europe. The Community also maintains a con-
tinuing dialogue on political and economic issues of
mutual interest and engages in direct negotiations on
trade and investment issues with the United States, par-
ticularly in the context of the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
Since the outbreak of the crisis in the former Yugosla-
via and the disintegration of the federal state, the Euro-
pean Community has played an important role in efforts
to bring about peace to the region and to channel humani-
tarian aid to the war-stricken communities of the country.
The London Conference on Yugoslavia held in August
1992, chaired jointly by the Secretary General of the
United Nations and by the Prime Minister of the United
Kingdom (as current President of the European Council),
represented a new departure for the EC in the field of
foreign policy and the first combined EC-United Nations
international operation. Senior officials nominated by the
United Nations and the EC are acting jointly as peace
negotiators and chairmen of the continuing Geneva Con-
ference on the former Yugoslavia established at the
London Conference.
Further information: The Director-General for Infor-
mation and Communication (DG 10), 200 rue de la Loi,
1049 Brussels, Belgium, Tel: 299 11 11; Fax: 235 01 38 39
040.
90. THE WESTERN EUROPEAN UNION (WEU)
The Western European Union has existed in its present
form since 1954 and today includes nine European coun-
tries - Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg,
the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United King-
dom. It has a Council and Secretariat currently based in
London and a Parliamentary Assembly in Paris. The
WEU has its origins in the Brussels Treaty of economic,
social and cultural collaboration and collective self-de-
fence of 1948, signed by Belgium, France, Luxembourg,
the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. With the
signature of the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949, the exer-
cise of the military responsibilities of the Brussels Treaty
Organisation or Western Union, was transferred to the
North Atlantic Alliance.
Under the Paris Agreements of 1954, the Federal Re-
public of Germany and Italy acceded to the Brussels
Treaty and the Organisation was renamed the Western
European Union. The latter continued in being in fulfil-
ment of the conditions and tasks laid down in the Paris
Agreements.
The Western European Union was reactivated in 1984
with a view to developing a common European defence
identity through cooperation among its members in the
security field and to strengthening the European pillar of
the North Atlantic Alliance.
Meeting in The Hague in October 1987, the Ministerial
Council of the Western European Union, made up of
Foreign and Defence Ministers of the nine member coun-
tries, adopted a ``Platform on European Security Inter-
ests'' in which they solemnly affirmed their determination
both to strengthen the European pillar of NATO and to
provide an integrated Europe with a security and defence
dimension. The Platform defined the Western European
Union's relations with NATO and with other organisa-
tions, as well as the enlargement of the WEU and the
conditions for the further development of its role as a
forum for regular discussion of defence and security
issues affecting Europe.
In August 1987 during the Iran-Iraq War, Western
European Union experts met in The Hague to consider
joint action in the Gulf to ensure freedom of navigation
in the oil shipping lanes of the region; and in October
1987 WEU countries met again to coordinate their military
presence in the Gulf following attacks on shipping in the
area.
Following the ratification of the Treaty of Accession
signed in November 1988, Portugal and Spain became
members of the Western European Union, in accordance
with the decisions taken the previous year to facilitate its
enlargement. A further step was taken in November 1989
when the Council decided to create an Institute for Secu-
rity Studies, based in Paris, with the task of assisting in
the development of a European security identity and in
the implementation of The Hague Platform.
At the end of 1990 and during the Gulf War in January
and February 1991, coordinated action took place among
WEU nations contributing forces and other forms of
support to the coalition forces involved in the liberation
of Kuwait.
A number of decisions were taken by the European
Council at Maastricht on 9-10 December 1991 on the
common foreign and security policy of the European
Union, and by the member states of the Western Euro-
pean Union on the role of the WEU and its relations
with the European Union and the Atlantic Alliance.
These decisions were welcomed by the North Atlantic
Council when it met in Ministerial Session on 19 Decem-
ber. They included extending invitations to members of
the European Union to accede to the WEU or to seek
observer status, as well as invitations to European
member states of NATO to become associate members;
agreement on the objective of the WEU of building up the
organisation in stages, as the defence component of the
European Union, and on elaborating and implementing
decisions and actions of the Union with defence implica-
tions; agreement on the objective of strengthening the
European pillar of the Atlantic Alliance and the role,
responsibilities and contributions of WEU member states
in the Alliance; affirmation of the intention of the WEU to
act in conformity with positions adopted in the Alliance;
the strengthening of the WEU's operational role; and the
relocation of the WEU Council and Secretariat from
London to Brussels. A number of other proposals are
also under examination, including a new role for the WEU
in armaments cooperation.
Provisions established in accordance with the decisions
reached at Maastricht will be re-examined in 1996 in the
light of the progress and experience acquired, including
the evolution of the relationship between the WEU and
the Atlantic Alliance.
On 21 May 1992, the Council of the Western European
Union held its first formal meeting with the North Atlan-
tic Council at NATO Headquarters. In accordance with
decisions taken by both organisations, the meeting was
held to discuss the relationship between them and ways
of strengthening practical cooperation as well as establish-
ing closer working ties between them.
In July 1992 the member countries of the WEU
decided to make available naval forces for monitoring
compliance in the Adriatic with UN Security Council
Resolutions against Serbia and Montenegro. Similar
measures were also taken by the North Atlantic Council
in Ministerial Session in Helsinki on 10 July 1992, in
coordination and cooperation with the operation decided
by the WEU.
Further information: Western European Union,
Secretariat-General, 9 Grosvenor Place, London SW1X
7HL. Tel: 071 235 5351; Fax: 071 259 6102.
91. THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE
The Council of Europe was set up on 5 May 1949, ``to
achieve a greater unity between its members for the
purpose of safeguarding and realising the ideals and
principles which are their common heritage and facilitat-
ing their economic and social progress''.
The Council has 27 member countries including
Hungary which joined in 1990 and the Czech and Slovak
Federal Republic in 1991. Other Central and Eastern
European countries have special guest status. Some of
the Council's activities are open to non-member states.
The organisation is composed of a Committee of Minis-
ters, in which agreements are reached on common action
by Governments; and a 192-strong Assembly, which makes
proposals for new activities and serves, more generally,
as a parliamentary forum (Bulgaria, Poland, Romania
and Russia have special guest status with the Parliamen-
tary Assembly).
The Council's overall aim is to maintain the basic
principles of human rights, pluralist democracy and the
rule of law and enhance the quality of life for European
citizens.
Around 140 inter-governmental conventions and agree-
ments have been concluded by the Council, chief among
which are the Convention on Human Rights, the Euro-
pean Cultural Convention, and the European Social Char-
ter. The organisation further promotes cooperation to
improve education; the safeguarding of the urban and
natural environment; social services, public health, sport
and youth activities; the development of local democracy;
the harmonization of legislation, particularly in the light
of technical developments, and the prevention of compu-
ter crime.
Further information: Information Directorate, Council
of Europe, BP341, R6-67006 Strasbourg, France, Tel:
Strasbourg (88) 412033; Fax: (88) 412780/(88) 412790.
