On 7 January 1955, the Belgian conservative daily newspaper La Nation belge analyses the debates taking place in France on the question of the ratification of the Paris Agreements and emphasises the Communists’ opposition to the establishment of a Western European Union (WEU).

On 5 and 8 July 1955, in Strasbourg, the first session of the Assembly of Western European Union (WEU) is held in the Hemicycle of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, attended by the delegations of Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

In November 1954, Paolo Emilio Taviani, Italian Defence Minister, emphasises the importance of Western European Union (WEU) for the military security of the European continent.

On 10 March 1955, the US President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, sends to the governments of Belgium, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom a letter in which he sets out the reasons why the United States welcomes the establishment of Western European Union (WEU) and his ideas on how relations between WEU and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) should be structured.

On 22 December 1954, Gaetano Martino, Italian Foreign Minister, outlines the advantages of Western European Union (WEU) to the Chamber of Deputies and calls for Italy’s ratification of the Paris Agreements.

The Brussels Treaty of 17 March 1948, modified and completed by the protocols signed in Paris on 23 October 1954 which enter into force on 6 May 1955. The Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and Italy accede to the modified Treaty. The ‘Consultative Council’ becomes the ‘Council of Western European Union’ (Article VIII), and the organisation established by the Treaty is renamed ‘Western European Union’ (WEU).

Dates of deposit of the instruments of ratification of the Protocol modifying and completing the Brussels Treaty of 17 March 1948. Pursuant to its Article VI, the Protocol entered into force on 6 May 1955, the date of the deposit of the Federal Republic of Germany’s instrument of accession to the North Atlantic Treaty.

On 21 April 1955, Johan Willem Beyen, Netherlands Foreign Minister, deliveres a speech on the multiple challenges of European integration, particularly on defense issues.

Map showing the birth in 1955 of Western European Union (WEU), which succeeded Western Union (WU). As part of the Paris Agreements, the Protocol modifying and completing the 1948 Brussels Treaty was signed in the French capital on 23 October 1954 and came into force on 6 May 1955.

On 23 October 1954, in Paris, the five Member States of Western Union (France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg), together with Italy and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), sign the Protocol Modifying and Completing the Brussels Treaty of 1948, thereby establishing Western European Union. From left to right: Konrad Adenauer, Joseph Bech, Paul-Henri Spaak, Pierre Mendès France and Gaetano Martino.