Western European Union: Seven-Country Cooperation and Early Institutional Operations

Western European Union rested on the Brussels Treaty signed in 1948 by Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. After the failure of the European Defence Community project, seven countries sought another arrangement. On 23 October 1954, Spaak, Mendès-France, Adenauer, Martino, Bech, Beyen and Eden signed protocols in Paris for their governments, bringing the Federal Republic of Germany and Italy into the existing system.

The text removed the original preamble's reference to renewed German aggression and instead expressed aims of European unity and progressive integration. Ratification was also linked to West Germany's accession to NATO, with the new arrangements entering into force on 6 May 1955. Thus 1954 marks agreement on the treaty framework, while actual organizational operation began the following year.

References: [1] [4]

On the evening of 7 May 1955, representatives of the seven countries held the first Council meeting at the British Embassy in Paris, chaired by British Foreign Secretary Harold Macmillan. They appointed Belgian diplomat Louis Goffin as Secretary-General and Italian Admiral Emilio Ferreri to lead the Agency for the Control of Armaments, and established a Standing Armaments Committee with national representatives.

The two armaments bodies had different emphases. The Agency undertook verification, while the Standing Committee promoted cooperation in production and standardization, assisted by its own international secretariat. French representative Antoine Pinay supported establishment of the committee but explicitly stated that the arrangement fell short of France's desired cooperation. The minutes preserve the limits of compromise; creating institutions did not itself establish a unified armaments industry.

References: [2]

The modified treaty required other members to provide all military and other assistance in their power if a member suffered armed attack in Europe. It also called for close cooperation with NATO to avoid duplicating military staffs. The armaments-control agency answered to the Council, and its costs formed part of the Union's budget.

Protocol IV required members to report relevant armament quantities and production and procurement plans and permitted verification through examination of accounts and visits to factories and depots. The first activity report of 1955 showed the Agency formally beginning work on 21 June. Expert meetings in autumn were still developing reporting forms, inspection procedures and safeguards for private interests. Legal inspection powers and complete implementing procedures were distinct stages that had to connect.

References: [1] [3]

The Secretariat was established in London on 1 June 1955, while the two armaments bodies worked in Paris. The first report recorded departments for general affairs, culture, social matters, finance and administration. National specialists and routine exchanges of documents sustained cooperation. Costs were shared, with Britain, France, Germany and Italy each paying one-fifth and the Benelux countries together paying the remaining fifth.

Answering Commons questions on 21 February 1956, Treasury representative Henry Brooke stated that Britain had paid £35,927 toward costs incurred in 1955, advanced £10,000 for 1956 and contributed £6,000 to the working capital fund. Each amount represented 20 percent of members' payments. He also noted that neither year's budget was finalized. These were paid and advanced amounts, not the Union's final annual budget totals.

References: [3] [5]

The treaty required the Council to submit an annual report, especially on armaments control, to an Assembly composed of members' representatives to the Council of Europe's parliamentary body. The WEU Assembly met in Strasbourg on 5 July 1955 and continued on 8 July. Using Council of Europe premises and technical services saved money, but the Assembly still needed its own procedural rules and clerk arrangements.

At the first session, Spaak, speaking for the Council, stated that the Assembly should be independent of other parliamentary bodies. The Council nevertheless opposed submitting the annual Union budget to the Assembly for consultation before approval and opposed direct questioning of international staff by it. Dutch representative van der Goes van Naters sought confirmation of the Assembly's right to appoint its own clerk. Oversight channels developed through such practical procedural disputes.

References: [1] [4]

The Union also continued cultural and social work under the Brussels Treaty. In July 1955, about a hundred European university rectors and vice-chancellors attended a supported conference in Cambridge, discussing university administration, teaching and research, and staff and student exchanges. That autumn, the committee on rehabilitation and resettlement met in seven-country form for the first time, addressing specialist information exchange and rehabilitation policy.

These activities relied on national departmental experts, Secretariat translation and circulation of documents, committee recommendations and Council approval. The Union thus comprised more than defense commitments for crises. By incorporating Germany and Italy into seven-country institutions, it supplied continuing channels for consultation, armament-information exchange and social and cultural cooperation. First-year records also show that staffing, final budgets, inspection details and parliamentary powers still required gradual implementation.

References: [3] [2] [5]