[Yugoslavia Memory of a disaster] The military option at the start of the Yugoslav conflict

(BRUSSELS2) From the beginning of the Yugoslav wars, the option of WEU intervention (within the framework of the United Nations) in the Yugoslav conflict was put forward by several of its members: French and Germans (August 1991 ), then the Netherlands (September 1991). It comes up against two main oppositions: that of the United Kingdom on principle, of the United States also which intends that NATO remains the privileged military organization. It is complicated by the different positions of the various partners: Germany is limited by its internal Constitution, France is campaigning for a UN operation, the Netherlands is campaigning for an equal involvement of NATO and the WEU . We are also in the midst of discussing the Treaty on European Political Union and the question of integrating WEU as the armed wing of the EEC is on the table. In short, interests intersect and unintersect. And finally the military option will remain in the drawers.

For lack of anything better (or thanks to the crisis), the 9 (*) adopted in June 1992, a so-called "Petersberg" declaration (from the name of the hotel overlooking the Rhine, near Bonn, where they were meeting), which affirm their intention to place military means at the disposal of the WEU, in peacekeeping operations under the political authority of the CSCE or the UN. These units could be used - it is specified - " for humanitarian missions or evacuation of nationals; peacekeeping missions; combat force missions for crisis management, including peace-making operations”. Here we find the ancestor of the PeSDC and the battlegroups.