On 8 March 1974, in preparation for the forthcoming meeting of the Council of Western European Union (WEU), held at ministerial level on 11 March 1974 in The Hague, the Directorate for Political Affairs in the French Foreign Ministry draws up speaking notes on the Standing Armaments Committee (SAC). It outlines the efforts made by France since 1972 to reactivate this WEU subsidiary body and particularly emphasises France’s absence from the Eurogroup (a body of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation of which France is not a member) and the fact that the SAC is the appropriate framework for the development of a genuine European policy on armaments. The French Government’s proposals include the introduction of a system for exchanging information between the SAC and the Eurogroup.