On 8 February 1977, the Secretariat-General of Western European Union (WEU) circulates a draft reply, prepared by the French delegation, to Assembly Recommendation 296 on western Europe’s policy towards Mediterranean problems. The draft reply sets out the WEU Council’s position on the situation in the eastern Mediterranean and emphasises that the defence of that region is currently the responsibility of the Atlantic Alliance. The establishment of a programme to strengthen Europe’s role in the joint defence of the eastern Mediterranean is scarcely within the realm of the WEU Council’s tasks.