Letter from Sir John William Denys Margetson to William J. A. Wilberforce on the WEU Standing Armaments Committee (Brussels, 6 October 1975)

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On 6 October 1975, Sir John William Denys Margetson, Head of Chancery at the United Kingdom delegation to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), sends a letter to William J. A. Wilberforce, Head of the Defence Department at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), concerning the future of the Standing Armaments Committee (SAC) of Western European Union (WEU). Sir John William Denys Margetson outlines three factors that justify the abolition of the SAC: the French are now participating in NATO programmes in the field of armaments procurement and standardisation; the United Kingdom can afford even less than before the costs involved in maintaining the SAC; and the French appear to have given up their efforts to revitalise the SAC.

Source and copyright

Source: The National Archives of the UK (TNA). Foreign Office, Western Organisations and Co-ordination Department and Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Western Organisations Department: Registered Files (W and WD Series). WESTERN EUROPEAN UNION (WEU). Future of Standing Armaments Committee of Western European Union. 01/01/1975-31/12/1975, FCO 41/1749 (Former Reference Dep: WDU 11/1 PART B).

Copyright: (c) The National Archives of the United Kingdom

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