At their meeting in Rome on 19 May 1993, the IEPG Defence Ministers decided that "Defence Ministers will meet at least once a year, before a WEU Council meeting, to oversee the activities of the armaments cooperation forum, which will henceforth be known as the Western European Armaments Group (WEAG)".
The WEAG Defence Ministers' meeting had been linked to the Autumn WEU Council meetings, both for the general organisation and for the frequency.
Following the decision taken in Marseille in November 2000 on the downsizing of the functions and structure of Western European Union, the WEU Council was no longer meeting on a regular basis. A new policy was therefore needed to define the modalities and frequency of WEAG Defence Ministers’ meetings.
Given the above situation, and taking into account the fact that all WEAG activities and decisions depend on Defence Ministers' endorsements, the Defence Ministers considered that their meetings would no longer be linked to WEU Council meetings and would be organised primarily for WEAG needs as required.
As far as frequency is concerned, WEAG Defence Ministers should meet, usually once a year, at the end of the annual activities cycle (after the NADs’ autumn meeting) to endorse decisions taken and provide guidance for future activities . If the annual meeting is not held, WEAG Defence Ministers should hold at least one meeting coinciding with the WEAG Chair handover.
The above considerations do not exclude the holding of extraordinary WEAG Defence Ministers’ meetings if and when urgent decisions/actions are needed.
