Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 18 Feb 1997

Vol. 475 No. 1

Written Answers. - WEU Role.

Ray Burke

Ceist:

92 Mr. R. Burke asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the Government's response to statements made by the French Foreign Minister. Herve de Charette, and Defence Minister Million which claimed that France is determined that the Western European Union will develop its role in 1997 to become the military instrument vital for the credibility of the European security and defence identity and to become the expression of European identity within NATO; and the implications, if any, of such aspirations for contined Irish Military neutrality within the EU. [4420/97]

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Spring)

I have seen reports of remarks by the French Foreign and Defence Ministers along the lines referred to in the Deputy's question. The remarks were made in the context of France's Presidency of the Western European Union for the first half of 1997. The remarks reflect long standing French policy on the Western European Union. They also reflect the policy of the Western European Union itself, as set out in Western European Union statements since the 1980s and in the Final Act of the Maastricht Conference in 1992, prior to Ireland's assumption of observer status in the Western European Union.

Ireland is not a member of the Western European Union. The decision that Ireland should become an observer in the Western European Union was taken in 1992. The Government's policy towards the Western European Union is set out in the Government White Paper on Foreign Policy, which makes clear that the Government will not be seeking membership of the Western European Union or NATO, or the assumpation of their mutual defence guarantees.