At the 453rd meeting of the Council of Western European Union (WEU), held at ministerial level on 15 February 1973 in Luxembourg, the delegations speak about the activities of the Standing Armaments Committee (SAC) and the issues surrounding armaments standardisation in Europe. André Bettencourt, French minister delegate to the Foreign Minister, calls for a revival of the SAC and puts forward several specific proposals to maintain and strengthen the committee. The British Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Anthony Royle, is much more sceptical at the role of the SAC and emphasises its modest record of activities, the governments preferring to give more important tasks to other organisations. He offers to set out the views of the British Government at a forthcoming meeting of the WEU Council after carrying out a detailed analysis of the French proposals.