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80-678: The Rome Declaration was the document signed at an extraordinary session held by the Council of Ministers of the Western European Union (WEU) (composed of the Foreign and Defence Ministers) in Rome on 26 and 27 October 1984 to mark the 30th anniversary of the Modified Brussels Treaty (MTB). The declaration decided to make better use of WEU to increase cooperation between the member states in

160-680: A 'tripwire.' The policy enunciated in Military Committee document MC14/1, issued in December 1952, saw the defence of Germany as principally a delaying action, to allow a line of resistance to be established along the lines of the IJssel and Rhine rivers. The conventional forces would attempt to hold this line while the allied strategic air forces defeated the Soviets and their allies by destroying their economy and infrastructure. What this strategy meant for

240-788: A Written Ministerial Statement UK's Foreign Office Minister Chris Bryant gave notice that the UK intended to withdraw from the Western European Union within a year. On 31 March 2010 the German Foreign Affairs Ministry announced Germany's intention to withdraw from the Modified Brussels Treaty. That same year, the Spanish Presidency of the WEU, on behalf of the 10 Member States of the Modified Brussels Treaty, announced

320-533: A following car. Authorities later attributed responsibility for the attack to the German Red Army Faction . Haig's successor, General Bernard W. Rogers , became somewhat of an institution in Europe as the former U.S. Army chief of staff occupied the office for nearly eight years; a brief outcry arose from the other NATO capitals when Rogers was slated for retirement by the U.S. administration in 1987. Rogers

400-657: A good account of Montgomery's exacting, tireless approach to improving the command's readiness, which caused a good deal of bruised feelings in doing so. In establishing the command, the first NATO planners drew extensively on WUDO plans and personnel. Devising command arrangements in the Central Region, which contained the bulk of NATO's forces, proved to be much more complicated. General Eisenhower considered naming an overall Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) there as well but soon realized it would be difficult to find an arrangement that would satisfy all three major powers with forces in

480-672: A longer sustainment capability in combat than the NRF, which is limited to 30 days. The Multinational Corps Northeast headquartered in Szczecin , Poland, was seen along with the downgraded Greek corps, as the third echelon deployable force in the NATO rapid deployment capability. The Eurocorps HQ, in Strasbourg , France, is an EU force with a technical agreement linking it to NATO. As of 2017 , there are nine High Readiness Force Headquarters: Certification of

560-567: A new category of forces was created, principally to improve the flexibility and reach of land forces. The structure incorporated six "NATO Rapid Deployable Corps headquarters". Formed from October 2003, the NATO Rapidly Deployable Corps are designated High Readiness Forces (HRF), designed to be able to react on short notice. Although these forces cannot deploy on five days warning like the NATO Response Force (NRF), they have

640-436: A number of years, as successive French governments had become increasingly incensed with Anglo - American domination of the command structure and insufficient French influence. In February 1966 President Charles de Gaulle stated that the changed world order had "stripped NATO of its justification" for military integration, and soon afterward, France stated that it was withdrawing from the NATO military structure. SHAPE and all

720-733: A potential Russian threat. Thus while some exercises were ostentially run to prepare the NRF, sometimes they also included Article 5 aspects. Among these dual-purpose exercises was 'Steadfast Jazz', part of the NATO Exercise Steadfast series , which was run in November 2013 across a number of NATO countries, including Poland and the Baltic states. This is a gallery of the badges of the Allied Command Europe (ACE), led by Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), in 1989. Since 2003 it has been

800-418: A purely administrative move necessitated by Clark's approaching retirement and the lack of an open four-star slot for the highly respected Ralston [a reality which would have compelled him to either accept a temporary demotion to two-star rank or retire from the service], Clark's relief has been often seen as a slap at the general on the part of a Pentagon leadership that had been very much at odds with him during

880-460: A small group of planners to devise a structure for the new European command. The Planning Group worked in the Hotel Astoria in central Paris while construction of a permanent facility began. On 2 April 1951 SHAPE moved to its permanent facility at Rocquencourt , just west of the city, at Camp Voluceau next to Versailles . France's resentment over NATO's military structure had been brewing for

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960-547: A small number of US and British ballistic missile submarines, and some 7,000 tactical nuclear weapons were deployed in Europe. The drawdown of the British Mediterranean Fleet , the military difficulties of the politically decided command structure, and the withdrawal of the French from the military command structure forced a rearrangement of the command arrangements in the southern region. Allied Forces Mediterranean

1040-882: Is Commander French Maritime Forces, initially aboard the Charles de Gaulle , but now aboard the amphibious ship Mistral . The French naval component is drawn from the Force d'Action Navale , the French Navy's surface fleet. Island Commander, Iceland , remains in existence as a detachment of HQ ACO, as does Allied Submarine Command, a NATO command based on the United States Navy 's ComSubLant . A special operations coordination centre and an intelligence fusion centre have also recently been formed within SHAPE. As more capable rapid reaction forces were established, earlier 'fire brigades', including

1120-560: Is always a U.S. four-star general officer or flag officer who also serves as Commander, U.S. European Command . From 1951 to 2003, SHAPE was the headquarters of Allied Command Europe ( ACE ). Since 2003 SHAPE has been the headquarters of ACO, controlling NATO also outside Europe. Even though the geographical scope of its activities was extended, SHAPE retained its traditional name with reference to Europe . General Eisenhower arrived in Paris on January 1, 1951, and quickly set to work with

1200-566: Is changing. On 13 November 2000, WEU Ministers met in Marseille and agreed to begin transferring the organisation's capabilities and functions to the European Union, under its developing Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). For example, on 1 January 2002, the WEU's Security Studies Institute and the Satellite Centre were transferred to

1280-571: The ACE Mobile Force (Land) ('AMF (L)'), were disbanded; AMF(L) was disbanded on 30 October 2002. In addition to this Allied Command Operations has at its disposal standing forces such as: Airlift support for SACEUR's travels is provided by the USAF's 309th Airlift Squadron at Chièvres Air Base , Belgium. In 2012 and 2013, NATO underwent a reorganization of the military command, and the land component commands at Heidelberg and Madrid were deactivated,

1360-676: The Cold War . The Berlin agreement allowed European countries (through the WEU) to use NATO assets if it so wished. In 1998 the United Kingdom, which had traditionally opposed the introduction of European autonomous defence capacities, signed the Saint-Malo declaration . This marked a turning point as the declaration endorsed the creation of a European security and defense policy, including a European military force capable of autonomous action. The declaration

1440-596: The European Communities ' European Political Cooperation (EPC), namely through the Genscher-Colombo Initiative. Opposition to these efforts from Denmark, Greece and Ireland led the remaining EC countries – all WEU members – to reactivate the WEU in 1984 by adopting the Rome Declaration . Prior to this point there had been minimal use of the provisions of the Modified Brussels Treaty. In 1992,

1520-670: The European mainland , and two other major military exercises in September 1957. Operation Strikeback was a series of multilateral naval exercises that concentrated on NATO's eastern Atlantic/northern European flank. Operation Deep Water involved NATO carrier and amphibious assault forces operating along NATO's southern flank in the Mediterranean Sea. To improve alliance military readiness and integration, NATO continued to hold annual alliance-wide military exercises each autumn ( FALLEX ) that

1600-863: The Institute for Security Studies and the Satellite Centre . On 15 May 1995, the Council of Ministers of the WEU met in Lisbon. During this meeting a declaration of the creation of the European Operational Rapid Force (EUROFOR) was made by France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Eurofor became operational in June 1998 as a task force of the Western European Union. The Western European Union had ten member countries, six associate member countries, five observer countries and seven associate partner countries. On 14 June 2001, WEU Secretary General Solana stated that there

1680-447: The Kosovo war the previous spring. From the early 2000s ACO as it became had more and more activities related to the NATO Response Force . Yet after Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania joined the alliance, and especially after the 2008 Georgia-Russia war , more attention began to be paid to NATO's core Article 5 defence obligations. The three Baltic states' worries were specifically focused on

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1760-647: The Netherlands on 17 March 1948, establishing the Western Union (WU), an intergovernmental defence alliance that also promoted economic, cultural and social collaboration. The need to back up the commitments of the North Atlantic Treaty with appropriate political and military structures led to the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). In December 1950 the parties to

1840-778: The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (April 1949), the Council of Europe (May 1949) and the European Coal and Steel Community (April 1951), left the Treaty of Brussels and its Western Union devoid of authority. The Western Union's founding Treaty of Brussels was amended at the 1954 Paris Conference as a result of the failure of the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community to gain French ratification: The General Treaty ( German : Deutschlandvertrag ) of 1952 formally named

1920-609: The Rhine River in the British Zone under the overall command of Lt. General Sir Richard Nelson Gale , British Army . Finally, Rosebud involved ground maneuvers by the U.S. Seventh Army in the American Zone of Occupation of Allied-occupied Germany . The initial plans saw the defence of Western Europe from a Soviet invasion resting heavily on nuclear weapons (' Massive retaliation '), with conventional forces merely acting as

2000-527: The Treaty of Lisbon . The states party to the Modified Treaty of Brussels consequently decided to terminate that treaty on 31 March 2010, with all the WEU's remaining activities to cease within 15 months. On 30 June 2011, the WEU officially ceased to exist; with the European Union taking over its activities. The Treaty of Brussels was signed by the United Kingdom , France , Belgium , Luxembourg , and

2080-663: The Treaty of Maastricht (1992), so that it does not participate in the CSDP of the European Union . Rome, 1992: Associate membership was created to include the European countries that were members of NATO but not of the European Union. Associate members Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary joined the EU in 2004. Kirchberg , 1994: Countries that at the time were not part of either NATO or of

2160-591: The Western Union Satellite Centre which had been established to function in connection to the WEU. With the transfer of responsibilities, the WEU's Parliamentary assembly was urged to dissolve itself, as it had a mandate to supervise WEU politics, not the EU's CSDP politics. But the Assembly saw itself as playing an important role, particularly with greater right of scrutiny, membership, experience and expertise in defence policy. Therefore, it renamed itself

2240-610: The "Interim European Security and Defence Assembly" and urged the European Convention to include it as a second chamber within the EU's institutional framework. Hence it argued it could effectively scrutinise the CSDP, help improve EU-NATO relations and be more suited, being composed of national parliamentarians, to the intergovernmental style of the CSDP. However, with the European Constitution aiming to streamline and simplify

2320-564: The 1996 NATO ministerial meeting in Berlin, it was agreed that the Western European Union would oversee the creation of a European Security and Defence Identity (ESDI) within NATO structures. The ESDI was intended as a European 'pillar' within NATO, partly to allow European countries to act militarily where NATO wished not to, and partly to alleviate the United States' financial burden of maintaining military bases in Europe, which it had done since

2400-587: The ACE area during the autumn 1952. Blue Alliance was a major allied air force exercise for the Allied Air Forces Central Europe (AAFCE) to achieve air supremacy over the Central European front and provide close air support to NORTHAG ground forces under the overall command of Lt. General Lauris Norstad , USAF . Two 1952 central region exercises involved air-ground combined forces. Equinox

2480-583: The Alliance, ACE's three-command system was reduced to two commands covering the same area after 1996, one for north of the Alps and one for south of the Alps. The United States had wished to retain three commands, arguing that 'the span of control might be excessive.' It was feared by Pentagon officials at the time that if the two-command structure was adopted, some functions at the MSC level would have had to be moved 'downward' in

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2560-666: The American and British garrisons in Austria, Trieste , and Berlin. Four days after Eisenhower's arrival in Paris, on 5 January 1951, the Italian defence minister, Randolfo Pacciardi , announced that three Italian divisions were to be formed as Italy's 'initial contribution to the Atlantic army', and that these divisions would also come under Eisenhower's control. On April 2, 1951, General Eisenhower signed

2640-477: The Center—the United States, United Kingdom and France—as they had strongly differing views on the proper relationship of air and ground power. Drawing upon his World War II experience, General Eisenhower decided to retain overall control himself and did not appoint a C-in-C for the Central Region. Instead there would be three separate C-in-C's (air, land, and sea). In December 1950 it was announced that

2720-570: The EDC as a prerequisite of the end of Allied occupation of Germany, and there was a desire to include Germany in the Western defence architecture. The Modified Brussels Treaty (MBT) transformed the Western Union into the Western European Union, at which point Italy and West Germany were admitted. Although the WEU established by the Modified Brussels Treaty was significantly less powerful and ambitious than

2800-531: The EPC's sphere of competence to security and defence questions, prompted the countries in favour to look for another framework of consultation. WEU was the favoured choice. Remaining EC countries - all WEU members - reactivate the WEU by means of the Rome Declaration. Following the European Communities ' 1986 Single European Act , which codified the EPC in EU law contained little of substance on EC defence integration,

2880-454: The EU and became the European Union Institute for Security Studies and the European Union Satellite Centre . Notably, the role given to the WEU in the Amsterdam Treaty, was removed by the Nice Treaty . The Treaty of Lisbon has provisions for cooperation between the EU and both NATO (including the Berlin Plus agreement ) and the WEU. However the defence commitment, of Article 4 of the Brussels Treaty, has not been subsumed. Article 42(7) of

2960-472: The EU's foreign policy, for example combining the two main foreign policy posts, it was not seen as wise to then create a separate double legislature for the CFSP, instead, the European Parliament was granted greater scrutiny over foreign policy. In 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon took over the WEU's mutual defence clause. There was much discussion about what to do with the WEU following the introduction of Lisbon, including plans to scrap it. On 30 March 2010 in

3040-438: The EU. All of the following nations joined both NATO and the EU by 2007. The following missions, mainly in the Balkans, were deployed by the WEU: The WEU initially had cultural and social (non-military) structures and activities, but these were transferred to the Council of Europe in 1960. Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe ACO's and SHAPE's commander is titled Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), and

3120-425: The NATO ACE exercises at the same time of year. A creature of habit, Haig took the same route to SHAPE every day – a pattern of behavior that did not go unnoticed by terrorist groups. On June 25, 1979, Haig was the apparent target of an assassination attempt in Mons, Belgium . A land mine blew up under the bridge on which Haig's car was traveling, narrowly missing Haig's car, but wounding three of his bodyguards in

3200-420: The Rehabilitation and Resettlement of the Disabled and Cultural Committee) were transferred to the Council of Europe which was already running programmes in these fields. The European Universities Committee (see CM(60)4; C(59)127 and CM(59)130) was transferred to the Council of Europe separately from the rest of WEU cultural activities. From the late 1970s onwards, efforts were made to add a security dimension to

3280-549: The SHAPE headquarters in Mons following the return, after almost forty years, of French military officers to the HQ. Fifteen French military officers, including General Jean-Jacques Bart, work there, of a total number of 1,100 personnel. They are however considered as "inserted," and not as "integrated," as they cannot be ordered to move without previous French approval. A new structure was developed with three main headquarters under Allied Command Operations: NATO Rapid Deployable Corps headquarters (NRDC) Between 2003 and 2006,

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3360-552: The Schaefer Plan, drafted by retired German general Shaefer. Shaefer's aim was to begin the first effort to streamline NATO's Cold War structure to meet the new circumstances. Personnel in the headquarters fell from 18,354 in 1990 to 12,919 in 1996. Costs fell from US$ 621m to $ 482m over the same period. From 1994-c.1999, there were three Major Subordinate Commands in ACE: Allied Forces Northwestern Europe at RAF High Wycombe , Allied Forces Central Europe at Brunssum , The Netherlands, and AFSOUTH in Naples. After much discussion within

3440-426: The Treaty of Brussels decided to transfer the headquarters, personnel, and plans of the Western Union Defence Organisation (WUDO) to NATO, whose Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) took over responsibility for the defence of Western Europe . The establishment of NATO, along with the signing of a succession of treaties establishing the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (April 1948),

3520-407: The Treaty of the European Union, as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon, could be viewed as incorporating that defence commitment into the EU framework. The European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) and European Union Satellite Centre (EUSC), both established to function under the EU's CFSP pillar , were both replacements to the Western European Union Institute for Security Studies and

3600-415: The US and NATO, and no discrimination against non-EU members such as Turkey. The Treaty of Amsterdam , which entered into force in 1999, transferred the WEU's Petersberg tasks to the EU, and stated that the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), replacing the WEU's ESDI, would be 'progressively framed' on the basis of these tasks. In June 1999, the Cologne European Council decided to incorporate

3680-404: The United Kingdom. The body closed on 23 May 2005. The Western European Armaments Organisation (WEAO) was intended as an Armaments Agency but operations were limited to a research cell. It provided support services in defence research and technology. It was created in 1996, and closed in August 2006. These agencies were taken over by the European Defence Agency . Other transferred bodies include

3760-408: The United States stood firm and today an American admiral remains in charge of the Naples command. In addition to the two continental commands AFNORTHWEST covered the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. An early retirement again disrupted the Mons headquarters in 2000 as General Wesley Clark was shunted aside in favor of Air Force general Joseph Ralston . Although the move was publicly characterized as

3840-431: The WEU (the Council) and the Assembly of the WEU (the Assembly). The WEU was led by a Council of Ministers, assisted by a Permanent Representatives Council on the ambassadorial level. A Parliamentary Assembly (composed of the delegations of the member states to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe ) supervised the work of the Council, but it did not have any obligations on the Council. The Assembly of WEU

3920-449: The WEU adopted the Petersberg Declaration , defining the so-called Petersberg tasks designed to cope with the possible destabilising of Eastern Europe. The WEU itself had no standing army but depended on cooperation between its members. Its tasks ranged from the most modest to the most robust, and included humanitarian , rescue and peacekeeping tasks as well as tasks for combat forces in crisis management , including peacemaking . At

4000-655: The WEU member states adopted the Platform on European Security Interests , which emphasised the need for intra-European defence integration and strengthening of NATO's European pillar. We recall our commitment to build a European union in accordance with the Single European Act , which we all signed as members of the [ European Communities ]. We are convinced that the construction of an integrated Europe will remain incomplete as long as it does not include security and defence. Western European Union The Western European Union ( WEU ; French : Union de l'Europe occidentale , UEO ; German : Westeuropäische Union , WEU )

4080-412: The WEU to the EU. In 2002 the Berlin agreement from 1996 was amended with the so-called Berlin Plus agreement , which allowed the EU to also draw on some of NATO's assets in its own peacekeeping operations. Originally, under the Amsterdam Treaty , the WEU was given an integral role in giving the EU an independent defence capability, playing a major role in the Petersberg tasks ; however that situation

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4160-628: The activation order for Allied Command Europe and its headquarters at SHAPE. Headquarters, Allied Forces Central Europe (AFCENT) was activated in Fontainebleau , France in 1953. On the same day, ACE's subordinate headquarters in Northern and Central Europe were activated, with the Southern Region following in June. By 1954 ACE's forces consisted of Allied Forces Northern Europe , at Oslo , Allied Forces Central Europe ( Fontainebleau ), Allied Forces Southern Europe ( Paris / Naples ) and Allied Forces Mediterranean at Malta . The commanders and commands in 1957 were: Four exercises were conducted in

4240-414: The campaign on the Western Front . On December 19, 1950, the North Atlantic Council announced the appointment of General Eisenhower as the first SACEUR. British Field Marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery moved over from the predecessor Western Union Defence Organization (WUDO) to become the first Deputy SACEUR, who would serve until 1958. Volume 3 of Nigel Hamilton's Life of Montgomery of Alamein gives

4320-501: The collective decision to withdraw from the Treaty and to close the WEU organisation by June 2011. On 30 June 2011 the WEU officially ceased to exist. Since the end of World War II , sovereign European countries have entered into treaties and thereby co-operated and harmonised policies (or pooled sovereignty ) in an increasing number of areas, in the European integration project or the construction of Europe ( French : la construction européenne ). The following timeline outlines

4400-420: The existence of NATO, marginalised the WEU, and caused it to be largely defunct. On 1 January 1960 in accordance with the decision taken on 21 October 1959 by the Council of Western European Union and with Resolution(59)23 adopted on 16 November 1959 by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the WEU activities in social and cultural areas (Social Committee, Public Health Committee, Joint Committee on

4480-401: The field of security policy, and reactivated the WEU. From the late 1970s onwards, efforts were made to add a security dimension to the European Communities 's European Political Cooperation (EPC), which thus far had primarily dealt with economic aspects of security issues. Opposition from Denmark, Greece and Ireland to the Genscher-Colombo initiative in November 1981, whose aim was to extend

4560-416: The following High Readiness Forces (Maritime) Headquarters took place in 2004: Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO), homeported at Gaeta, Italy, whose lead nation is the United States, is commanded by Commander United States Sixth Fleet , and is also part of the NATO Force Structure. STRIKFORNATO is the only command capable of leading an expanded maritime task force. The final formation

4640-418: The forces initially to come under General Eisenhower's command were to be the U.S. Seventh Army in Germany, the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), with the 2nd Infantry and 7th Armoured Divisions , to be bolstered by the 11th Armoured Division and a further infantry division, three French divisions in Germany and Austria, the Danish, Belgian, and the Independent Norwegian Brigades in Western Germany, and

4720-412: The headquarters of Allied Command Operations, controlling all NATO operations worldwide. SHAPE retained its traditional name with reference to Europe for legal reasons although the geographical scope of its activities was extended in 2003. At that time, NATO's command in Lisbon , historically part of Allied Command Atlantic , was reassigned to ACO. [REDACTED] In 2003, a French flag was set up in

4800-504: The land battle in the central region was described for publicity purposes in January 1954 by then-Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Alfred Gruenther as: We have... an air-ground shield which, although still not strong enough, would force an enemy to concentrate before attack. In doing so, the concentrating force would be extremely vulnerable to losses from atomic weapon attacks... We can now use atomic weapons against an aggressor, delivered not only by long-range aircraft, but also by

4880-403: The legal inception of the European Union (EU)—the principal framework for this unification. The EU inherited many of its present responsibilities from the European Communities (EC), which were founded in the 1950s in the spirit of the Schuman Declaration . The WEU was headquartered in Brussels , with a staff of 65 and an annual budget of €13.4 million. It was composed of the Council of

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4960-602: The more notable being General Alexander Haig . Haig, who had retired from military service in order to serve as White House Chief of Staff for President Richard Nixon during the depths of the Watergate crisis, was abruptly installed as SACEUR after Watergate's denouement. Haig arrived in 1974. Some scattered notes about his time at SHAPE are recorded by Colodny and Shachtman's book The Forty Years War . In addition, then-Lieutenant Colonel John Galvin (later to become SACEUR himself) served as speechwriter for both Goodpaster, Haig's predecessor, and Haig. Galvin wrote that 'Goodpaster

5040-422: The new structure. But while the United States eventually had to give in on a reduction to two commands, it was successful in that a European officer was not placed in charge of the new southern command (now Allied Joint Force Command Naples ), a move which France and Germany supported. Despite French President Jacques Chirac exchanging letters with Bill Clinton personally over the issue in September–October 1997,

5120-461: The original Western Union, German membership of the WEU was considered sufficient for the military occupation of Germany to end in accordance with the General Treaty. The signatories of the Paris Agreements stated their three main objectives in the preamble to the Modified Brussels Treaty: The social and cultural aspects of the Treaty of Brussels were handed to the Council of Europe (CoE) to avoid duplication of responsibilities. This, in addition to

5200-475: The other NATO installations, including NATO Headquarters and Allied Forces Central Europe (AFCENT), were informed that they must leave French territory by April 1967. France's withdrawal from NATO's integrated military structure forced SHAPE and several other ACE headquarters to leave French territory. With France no longer available, Belgium was chosen as a new host nation for both NATO's political headquarters and SHAPE. General Lyman Lemnitzer , SACEUR at

5280-407: The role of the WEU within the EU, effectively abandoning the WEU. The Cologne Council also appointed Javier Solana as the High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy to help progress both the CFSP and the CSDP. On 20 November 1999 Solana was also appointed Secretary-General of the WEU. His being head of both organisations permits him to oversee the ongoing transfer of functions from

5360-438: The time, had hoped that SHAPE could be located near to NATO Headquarters, as had been the case in Paris, but the Belgian authorities decided that SHAPE should be located at least 50 kilometres from Brussels , NATO's new location, because SHAPE was a major wartime military target. The Belgian government offered Camp Casteau, a 2 km Belgian Army summer training camp north of the city of Mons , southwest of Brussels, which

5440-440: The turn of the 21st century, WEU tasks and institutions were gradually transferred to the European Union (EU), providing central parts of the EU's new military component, the European Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). This process was completed in 2009 when a solidarity clause between the member states of the European Union , which was similar (but not identical) to the WEU's mutual-defence clause, entered into force with

5520-489: The use of shorter-range planes, and by 280 mm. artillery... This air-ground team constitutes a very effective shield, and it would fight very well in case of attack. In 1957, SACEUR General Lauris Norstad , USAF , noting the numerical superiority of Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces over NATO ground forces, called for "about 30" divisions to augment NATO's central European front. That year Allied Command Europe carried out Operation Counter Punch, which involved AFCENT forces on

5600-412: Was ... internationally minded, avuncular, philosophical, gentlemanly, thoughtful, warm, and measured in his ways. Haig was combative and suspicious, and conspiratorial in outlook.' While at SACEUR Haig felt that the large Warsaw Pact exercises were intimidating to observers, and, despite HQ staff disapproval, created the Exercise Autumn Forge exercise series, increasing the size of the event by holding all

5680-505: Was a consultative institution. The Independent European Program Group (IEPG) was established as a forum for armaments cooperation in 1976 with the aim of creating a European Armaments Agency. Since 1993 the WEU armaments cooperation forum has been known as Western European Armaments Group (WEAG). Its membership reached 19 in 2000: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and

5760-483: Was a major air-ground exercise involving French-American tactical air units and a French airborne infantry unit under the command of Général d'Armée Alphonse Juin , French Army . Holdfast was a major allied air-ground exercise involving 150,000 British Army of the Rhine , Dutch, Belgian, and Canadian troops of NATO's Northern Army Group in coordination with the Allied Air Forces Central Europe . They maneuvered east of

5840-462: Was a response to the Kosovo War in the late 1990s, in which the EU was perceived to have failed to intervene to stop the conflict. Concerns were voiced that an independent European security pillar could undermine NATO; In response to St. Malo, the former US-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright put forth the three famous D's: no duplication of what was done effectively under NATO, no decoupling from

5920-430: Was an area in serious need of additional economic investment. In September 1966, NATO agreed that Belgium should host SHAPE at Casteau . SHAPE closed its facility at Rocquencourt near Paris on 30 March 1967, and the next day held a ceremony to mark the opening of the new headquarters at Casteau. From 1951 to 2003, SHAPE was the headquarters of Allied Command Europe ( ACE ). An integrated military structure for NATO

6000-626: Was disbanded on 5 June 1967, and all forces in the south and the Mediterranean assigned to AFSOUTH in Naples. This left SHAPE and Allied Command Europe with three commands: AFNORTH covering Norway and Denmark, AFCENT most of Germany, and AFSOUTH Italy, Turkey, Greece, and the rest of the southern region. The headquarters' new home in Mons, Belgium, was the center of international attention from time to time as new Supreme Allied Commanders came and went, with one of

6080-624: Was first established after the Korean War raised questions over the strength of Europe's defences against a Soviet attack. The first choice for commander in Europe was American General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower , as he had successfully directed the Allied landings in Normandy and subsequent march into Germany during World War II , amid many inter-Allied controversies over the proper conduct of

6160-403: Was jointly planned and executed by SACEUR and SACLANT forces. From 1967 however, under ' flexible response ', the aim became to build up conventional forces so that, if possible, nuclear weapons might not be needed. However it was made clear that first use of nuclear weapons might be necessary if the conventional defences were being overwhelmed. Eventually SACEUR was allocated planning control of

6240-408: Was no foreseeable reason to change the status of the non member countries in the organisation. All member countries of the WEU were also members of both NATO and the European Union. These are the only nations that had full voting rights. Rome , 1992: Observer countries were members of the European Union, but not of NATO. Denmark was an exception, being member of both. It has an opt-out from

6320-481: Was replaced by General John R. Galvin after Galvin was being advised he was being picked by Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger in February–March 1987. ACE in 1986 had three major subordinate commands (MSCs), one each for Northern, Central, and Southern Europe, as well as smaller commands. From 1993, the staffing of ACE was reduced in line with personnel reductions already in progress since 1990 and

6400-613: Was the international organisation and military alliance that succeeded the Western Union (WU) after the 1954 amendment of the 1948 Treaty of Brussels . The WEU implemented the Modified Brussels Treaty . During the Cold War , the Western Bloc included the WEU member-states, plus the United States and Canada, as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The Cold War ended c.  1991 , and at

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