On 14 February 1969, the Permanent Council of Western European Union (WEU) meets in London — in the absence of France, which refuses to participate — to discuss Middle East issues. The French Foreign Ministry disagreed with the British proposal to convene a specific meeting on this topic After the WEU Council meeting on 14 February, convened by the United Kingdom but opposed by the French Government, France decides to boycott all future WEU Council meetings. It believes that the London meeting was held in breach of the statutory rules governing the WEU Council and that the British initiative is an attempt to institutionalise the holding of regular consultations between the Six and the United Kingdom on foreign policy issues.