Arnaud Jacomet (UEO) died

(BRUSSELS2) Arnaud Jacomet, head of the Western European Union (WEU) secretariat, died in Brussels on October 14, 2011, a few days before his 65th birthday. This Frenchman, an international civil servant at NATO before landing at WEU - head of the General Affairs section of the Political Division in 1999 before being appointed to the 1^er July 2001 Head of the WEU Council Secretariat - was the last WEU Secretary-General, succeeding Javier Solana, after 25 November 2009. He was a strong supporter of European defense policy. Since the liquidation of the European organization decided by its members, he had the discreet and thankless task of assuming a social plan.

For André Dumoulin, Attaché to the Royal Military School and lecturer at the University of Liège, who knew him well for having committed several works, Arnaud Jacomet was a " fine connoisseur of Napoleon, operas, classical music, collector of beautiful books (but above all) a lover of the French language which he handled beautifully, with an inimitable style. Helpful, warm, rigorous and faithful in word, he was also more diplomatic than diplomats, with legendary prudence in his actions and his words. The precise choice of words was for him a pleasant exercise as much as it was important. “In recent months, he had been keen to resolve the many organizational and administrative problems linked to the disappearance of WEU, which was confirmed on 30 June. It was not the easiest and Arnaud Jacomet was often between a rock and a hard place. These very painful moments in a sometimes tense climate will certainly have weakened this great servant of this organization which was, in the end, abandoned by the capitals. »

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