Flexibility and enhanced cooperation in European security matters: assets or liabilities

The present <i>Occasional Paper</i> collects some of the materials produced for the Seminar on Flexibility and Enhanced Cooperation in European Security Matters: Assets or Liabilities?, that the WEU Institute for Security Studies organised on 22-23 October 1998 in Paris. More specifically, the reader will find the background paper that was distributed in advance to the participants, the brief general introduction to the seminar proper, the main papers delivered on that occasion, a couple of interventions in the debate, and the conclusions. The annex contains the relevant articles of the Amsterdam Treaty - on CFSP and 'flexibility' - in their consolidated version.<br /><br />By publishing and distributing all of this as an <i>Occasional Paper</i> without much editing, we intend to disseminate some food for thought in the wake of the recently revived discussion over European defence, and in anticipation of the entry into force of the new Treaty. We are grateful to the contributors for having entrusted to us their contributions and accepted that, for expediency's sake, they be distributed in a form that is not customary for the Institute.