Western European Union (WEU), European security and defense organization. It was set up in Brussels in 1955 as a defensive, economic, social, and cultural organization, consisting of Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands; Portugal and Spain became members in 1988, and Greece joined in 1995. After France had refused to ratify a treaty providing for a European Defense Community, the WEU was created as a substitute solution embodied in the Paris Pacts Paris Pacts, four international agreements signed in Paris on Oct. 23, 1954, to establish a new international status for West Germany. Since the end of World War II, West Germany had been occupied by Allied forces and lacked its own means of defense.
..... Click the link for more information. . Since Western military cooperation had been dominated by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Partnership for Peace, formed in 1994. Twenty-three countries now belong to the partnership, which engages in joint military exercises with NATO. NATO is not required to defend Partnership for Peace nations from attack.
..... Click the link for more information. (NATO) and Western economic coordination by the European Economic Community European Economic Community (EEC), organization established (1958) by a treaty signed in 1957 by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany (now Germany); it was known informally as the Common Market.
..... Click the link for more information. and later the European Free Trade Association European Free Trade Association (EFTA), customs union and trading bloc; its current members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. EFTA was established in 1960 by Austria, Denmark, Great Britain, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland.
..... Click the link for more information. , the primary function of the WEU was to supervise the rearmament of Germany, as provided for under the Paris Pacts. In 1960, the WEU transferred its cultural and social activities to the Council of Europe Council of Europe, international organization founded in 1949 to promote greater unity within Europe and to safeguard its political and cultural heritage by promoting human rights and democracy. The council is headquartered in Strasbourg, France.
..... Click the link for more information. . Under the Maastricht Treaty (1992), the WEU was envisioned as the future military arm of the European Union European Community (EC), an economic and political confederation of European nations, and other organizations (with the same member nations) that are responsible for a common foreign and security policy and for cooperation on justice and home affairs.
..... Click the link for more information. (EU); it remained institutionally autonomous. In 1995 the Eurocorps, a joint force drawn from some of the WEU members, became operational. An additional 18 nations from central Europe, NATO, and/or the EU joined the WEU as associate members, observers, or associate partners in the 1990s. In 1999 the EU voted to absorb all the functions of the WEU in preparation for making the EU a defensive and peacekeeping military organization as well as a social and economic one.

Western European Union (WEU)

Association of 10 European countries to coordinate matters of European security and defense. The WEU was formed in 1955 as an outgrowth of the Brussels Treaty of 1948. Composed of Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Britain, it works in cooperation with NATO and the European Union and is administered by a council of the foreign affairs and defense ministers of the member countries. There are also several associate members, observers, and associate partners. It is headquartered in Brussels.

Western European Union (redirected from Western European Union Assembly)

Western European Union (WEU)

Western European Union
(redirected from Western European Union Assembly)