In this interview excerpt, Francis Gutmann, an official in the French Foreign Ministry from 1951 to 1957 and Secretary-General of the External Relations Ministry from 1981 to 1985, outlines the reasons why France supported an attempt to revive Western European Union (WEU) with a view to turning it into a natural framework for a European defence policy.

In this interview excerpt, Francis Gutmann, an official in the French Foreign Ministry from 1951 to 1957 and Secretary-General of the External Relations Ministry from 1981 to 1985, discusses the meagre results of Western European Union (WEU) in the area of European defence policy, while emphasising France’s commitment to the organisation and the role of France and the United Kingdom as drivers in the area of defence in the European Union.