Western european union

The Western European Union exemplifies the transitional stage in relation to defence and security that North America and Western, Central and Eastern Europe are going through following the ending of the Cold War. Originally and primarily a military alliance committing member states to come to the assistance of any other member which was the object of an armed attack in Europe 'with all the military and other aid and assistance in their power' (Article V of the 1954 modified Brussels Treaty), the WEU was subsequently defined in the Treaty of Maastricht as 'an integral part of the development of the European Union' (Article J4) and members agreed to 'intensify their coordination on Alliance issues which represent an important common interest with the aim of introducing joint positions agreed in WEU into the process of consultation in the NATO Alliance, which will remain the essential forum for consultation among its members and the venue for agreement on policies bearing on the security and defence commitments of allies under the North Atlantic Treaty' (Declaration B4). It defines its new role as 'an integral part of the process of European unification and the future defence arm of the European Union, alongside NATO and the OSCE' and as a means of strengthening the European pillar of the Atlantic Alliance. Additionally, in terms of the Petersberg Declaration the W.E.U. conducts European military operations in the humanitarian, peacekeeping and crisis management fields.

The institutions of WEU are the WEU Council of Ministers meeting at least twice yearly, the Permanent Council of representatives of member states meeting weekly, and the Parliamentary Assembly whose 115 members meet twice a year in Paris. WEU consists of ten members of the European Union: Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. Austria, Denmark, Finland, Ireland and Sweden have Observer status; Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia are Associate Partners, and Iceland, Norway and Turkey are Associate Members, and the Secretariat is in Brussels.

World trade organisation

The WTO, which is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), was established on 1 January 1995, and is the legal and institutional basis of the multilateral trading system. It provides the principal contractual obligations determining how governments frame and implement domestic trade legislation and regulations, and it is the platform on which trade relations among countries evolve through collective debate, negotiation and adjudication. The essential functions of the WTO are: administering and implementing the multilateral and plurilateral trade agreements which together make up the WTO; acting as a forum for multilateral trade negotiations; seeking to resolve trade disputes; overseeing national trade policies, and cooperating with other international institutions involved in global economic policy-making.

In accordance with the 'most favoured nation' (MFN) clause, members are bound to grant to the products of other members no less favourable treatment than that accorded to the products of any other country. The commitment to 'national treatment' requires that once goods have entered a market, they must be treated no less favourably than the equivalent domestically produced good. Quotas are generally outlawed, but tariffs or customs duties are legal in the WTO. Tariff reductions made by over 120 countries in the GATT Uruguay Round are contained in national tariff schedules which are considered an integral part of the WTO. The Tariff reductions, for the most part phased in over five years, will result in a 40 per cent cut in industrial countries' tariffs on industrial products, from an average of 6.3 per cent to 3.8 per cent.

Members have also undertaken an initial set of commitments covering national regulations affecting various services activities. These commitments are, like those for tariffs, contained in binding national schedules. In addition, the WTO extends and clarifies previous GATT rules that laid down the basis on which governments could impose compensating duties on two forms of 'unfair' competition: dumping and subsidies. The WTO Agreement on agriculture is designed to provide increased fairness in farm trade; that on intellectual property will improve conditions of competition where ideas and inventions are involved, and another will do the same for trade in services. GATT provisions intended to favour developing countries are maintained in the WTO, in particular those encouraging industrialised countries to assist trade of developing nations. Developing countries are given transition periods to adjust to the more difficult WTO provisions. Least-developed countries are given even more flexibility, and benefit from accelerated implementation of market access concessions for their goods.

The highest WTO authority is the Ministerial Conference which meets every two years, whilst the day-to-day work falls to a number of subsidiary bodies, principally the General Council, which also convenes as the Dispute Settlement Body and as the Trade Policy Review Body. The General Council delegates responsibility to three other major bodies - namely the Councils for Trade in Goods, Trade in Services and Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. Four other bodies established by the Ministerial Conference report to the General Council: the Committee on Trade and Development, the Committee on Balance of Payments, the Committee on Trade and Environment, and the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration. The plurilateral agreements of the WTO - those on civil aircraft, government procurement, dairy products and bovine meat - have their own management bodies which report to the General Council.

The WTO is headed by its Director-General and four Deputy Directors-General. The Secretariat is responsible for servicing WTO delegate bodies with respect to negotiations and the implementation of agreements. It has a particular responsibility to provide technical support to developing countries, and especially the least-developed countries. WTO economists and statisticians provide trade performance and trade policy analyses, while its legal staff assist in the resolution of trade disputes involving the interpretation of WTO rules and precedents. Other Secretariat work is concerned with accession negotiations for new members and providing advice to governments considering membership. The WTO budget is around US$83 million, with individual contributions calculated on the basis of shares in the total trade conducted by members. Part of the budget also goes to the International Trade Centre. The Secretariat is located in Geneva.