On 12 November 1980, the Secretary-General of Western European Union (WEU) circulates the reply by the WEU Council to Assembly Recommendation 345 on new weapons and defence strategy — modernisation of theatre nuclear forces. The Council shares the Assembly’s view that it is essential for the Atlantic Alliance to maintain sufficient forces to ensure adequate deterrence in the face of the steady build-up of Soviet military forces. But the Council notes that the current long-range systems of the Alliance are ageing and that the allies therefore decided on 12 December 1979 to modernise the long-range theatre nuclear forces stationed in Europe and to deploy US ground-launched cruise missiles and Pershing II ballistic missiles from the end of 1983. The Member States of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) are also continuing to support negotiations with the Soviet Union for an agreement on the limitation and reduction of nuclear forces. The WEU Council emphasises the efforts made by the Alliance to stimulate the arms control process in Europe, particularly the control of theatre nuclear forces.