British Membership of the Western European Union

In a Written Ministerial Statement Foreign Office Minister Chris Bryant gives notice that the UK intends to withdraw from the Western European Union.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Chris Bryant):  The Western European Union (WEU) has, in the past, played a valuable role in discussion on European security. It embedded the principle of mutual defence in post-war Europe, promoted consultation and cooperation on defence and security matters in Western Europe and has conducted operations in a number of vital theatres, including the Persian Gulf and the Adriatic.  But its mutual defence role was essentially symbolic as soon as NATO was established and successive UK governments have made clear, as the Lisbon Treaty does, that NATO is the forum and the foundation for collective defence of the Allies.

Moreover, the operational role of the WEU has been succeeded by the EU, following the UK/French initiative to create security and defence policy capacity in the EU. With this development, which NATO and the US specifically have welcomed, it is clear that the Western European Union is no longer relevant to today's European security architecture. While the UK recognises the role the WEU Assembly has played in engaging the views of national parliamentarians from across Europe on European defence, we do not believe this justifies the cost of over €2 million a year to the UK alone.

For that reason, the UK intends to withdraw from the Western European Union.  In accordance with the Modified Brussels Treaty, we will formally inform the Belgian government of our decision in April 2010. A twelve month notice period will then follow, during which the UK will remain a member of the WEU, giving an opportunity for discussion on how to develop cross-European parliamentary scrutiny of European defence issues. Given the inter-governmental nature of CSDP, we believe, however, that this remains fundamentally a matter for national parliaments. There is no reason and no case for the European Parliament to expand its competence in this area.

We are in discussion with other WEU Member States on this issue. Many of them also believe that the time has come to radically reform or close the organisation.  Following this announcement, we will continue to engage our European partners on this issue and on future cross- European parliamentary scrutiny of European defence.  

We will also seek to use this opportunity to improve the exchange of information and engagement between the EU and NATO, including the involvement of non-EU NATO European Allies in European defence.

Source : http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/latest-news/?view=PressS&id=21976547