Telegram from Michel Debré to Geoffroy Chodron de Courcel announcing France’s decision to suspend its participation in the activities of the WEU Council (Paris, 15 February 1969)
Text On 15 February 1969, the day after the meeting of the Council of Western European Union (WEU) on the Middle East, to which the French Government was opposed, French Foreign Minister Michel Debré sends Geoffroy Chodron de Courcel the text of a letter that he is planning to send to WEU Secretary-General Maurice Iweins d’Eeckhoutte. In this letter, he announces France’s decision to suspend its participation in all Council activities until further notice. This decision signals the beginning of WEU’s ‘empty chair’ crisis.
Source and copyright
Source: M. Debré, Ministre des Affaires étrangères, à M. Chodron de Courcel, ambassadeur de France à Londres: Paris, 15 septembre 1969, 20h19, T. nos 207 à 210. Dans: Ministère des Affaires étrangères. Commission de publication des documents diplomatiques français. Documents diplomatiques français: 1969, Tome I, 1er janvier-30 juin. Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 2011. Numéro du document 127. pp. 286-287.
Copyright: (c) Ministère des Affaires étrangères de la République Française
Avec l'autorisation du ministère des Affaires Etrangères