On 20 October 1948, Raoul de Fraiteur, Belgian Defence Minister, sends a confidential letter to Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, in which he reviews the decisions adopted by the conference of defence ministers of the five Member States of Western Union.

On 3 November 1948, British cartoonist Ernest Howard Shepard takes an ironic look at the large number of institutions in the Western Union, contrasting these with the institution's real military capacity and comparing it to a ‘paper tiger'. On the left, Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary.

At their joint meeting held on 15 December 1957, the Assembly and Council of Western European Union outline suggestions for improving relations between the two bodies.

At an extraordinary session held in Rome on 26 and 27 October 1984 to mark the 30th anniversary of the Modified Brussels Treaty, the Council of Ministers of Western European Union (WEU), composed of the Foreign and Defence Ministers, decides to make fuller use of the institutions of WEU and, to this end, to bring the existing institutions into line with the organisation’s new tasks.

Organisation chart of Western European Union (WEU) in January 2000.

On 17 May 2000, as the operational activities of Western European Union (WEU) are transferred to the European Union (EU), the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung speculates on the future of the WEU Assembly.

On 18 June 2001, in Paris, Javier Solana, Secretary-General of Western European Union (WEU) and of the Council of the European Union (EU), informs the WEU Assembly about the new arrangements introduced as a result of the transfer of the responsibilities of WEU bodies and structures to the EU.

On 3 June 2002, Javier Solana, Secretary-General of Western European Union (WEU) and of the Council of the European Union (EU), gives a speech on the restructuring of WEU bodies and agencies.