Western European Union

Abstract

On May 6, 1955, the Western European Union (WEU) formally came into existence.1 On May 7, the WEU Council held its inaugural meeting in Paris. The Council considered various questions relating to the structure of WEU and, after approving the Interim Commission's report and adopting the draft agreement on the status of WEU and its staff, appointed Louis Goffin (Belgium) Secretary-General of WEU. Admiral Ferreri (Italy) was appointed director of the Agency for the Control of Armaments. The Council also decided, on the basis of studies carried out by a working group established at the nine-power conference in Paris on October 21, 1954, to create a Standing Armaments Committee composed of national representatives and served by a small secretariat. The Standing Committee had the task of “the development of the closest possible co-operation between member countries of Western European Union in the field of armaments, in order to seek the most practical means of using the resources available to these countries for equipping and supplying their forces and of sharing tasks in the best interest of all”. In order to promote liaison with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the seat of the Standing Committee was to be Paris; Charles Cristofini (France) was appointed Assistant Secretary-General in charge of the international secretariat of the Standing Committee. The Council further decided that the first meeting of the WEU Assembly should be held in Strasbourg during die same period as the next session of die Consultative Assembly of die Council of Europe and that the WEU Assembly should be composed of die representatives of the Brussels Treaty powers to the Consultative Assembly.