ABSTRACT
The revitalisation of the Western European Union (WEU) advanced the cause of a European defence identity within a multilateral forum that was compatible with US leadership. A strand contributing to the revitalisation of the WEU was the quickening pace of European integration. Appreciating the background issues assists in understanding both the reasons for the WEU's revitalisation as well as the form that it took. The preparations for its revitalisation were agreed at the Paris meeting in June 1984 and were announced at Rome in October. The long-standing fear of the British government was that France would seek to hijack the revitalisation of the WEU by trying to develop it as a rival structure to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). The long-standing fear of the British government was that France would seek to hijack the revitalisation of the WEU by trying to develop it as a rival structure to NATO.
