UK says pulling out of European defence grouping

Britain said Tuesday it would pull out of the Western European Union (WEU), saying the European defence organisation no longer had a role to play in the continent's security.

The WEU was created by the Brussels treaty, a mutual defence agreement signed by Britain, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in 1948 in response to Soviet moves to impose control over central Europe, according to its website. But the organisation has effectively been superseded by NATO and by the European Union. (Reuters)