On the contrary, "a stronger Europe means a stronger Alliance".

As part of this process, the Alliance has over recent years worked out mechanisms and procedures, in close coordination and cooperation with the WEU, to enable the latter to use NATO assets and capabilities for crisis management operations under its own political control and strategic direction. This includes the concept of “Combined Joint Task Forces” (known by the acronym “CJTF”), which gives the Alliance the necessary flexibility by allowing for separable but not permanently separate capabilities. These mechanisms and procedures are being put to the test in exercises. In February 2000, the first joint NATO-WEU crisis management exercise was held.


Explanatory notes.

1. The European Union (EU) was established on the basis of the Treaty of Rome signed on 25 March 1957 by Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined in 1973, Greece in 1981, Portugal and Spain in 1986, and Austria, Finland and Sweden in 1995. 2. The Western European Union (WEU) has its origins in the Brussels Treaty of Economic, Social and Cultural Collaboration and Collective Self-Defence, signed in 1948 by Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Subsequently, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain also joined the organisation. 3. In the Maastricht Treaty on European Union signed in 1991, EU leaders agreed on the development of a Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) "including the eventual framing of a common defence policy which might in time lead to a common defence". The Treaty referred to the Western European Union as an integral part of the development of the European Union and requested the WEU to elaborate and implement decisions and actions of the European Union with defence implications.

4. The former NATO Secretary General, Dr. Javier Solana, was appointed EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union in 1999. This role was subsequently combined with the role of Secretary General of the Western European Union. ADAPTING THE ALLIANCE FOR NEW MILITARY TASKS


Today's NATO must be able to respond to a variety of security challenges rapidly and effectively.