On 16 April 1959, Maurice Couve de Murville, President-in-Office of the Council of Western European Union (WEU) and French Foreign Minister, replies to questions put by the WEU Assembly’s Committee on Defence Questions. He confirms that the general plan for the integration of air defence in the WEU countries drawn up by military authorities has been discussed in the North Atlantic Council but has not yet been formally and finally approved. The equipping of NATO forces stationed in Western Germany with missiles capable of carrying tactical nuclear warheads is planned no earlier than the early 1960s. Maurice Couve de Murville also raises the question of the reorganisation of national defence in France and emphasises that there have been no consultations on this subject between the French Government and the governments of the WEU member countries, pointing out that the ongoing changes contribute to the effective defence of Western Europe as a whole.