Cologne European Council as Council Secretary-General and High Representative. He took up the post on 18 October 1999, shortly after standing down from NATO. The post had a budget of €40 million, most of which goes to Balkan operations. During his tenure, the position was expanded rapidly, with several more functions combined into the function of High Representative. From 25 November 1999 he was also appointed Secretary-General of the Western European Union (WEU), overseeing the transfer of responsibilities from that organisation to the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). In 2004, his five-year mandate was renewed; he also became president of the European Defence Agency for the duration of his second term. The Clinton administration claimed in May 2000 that Solana was the fulfilment of Henry Kissinger's famous desire to have a phone number to talk to Europe. In December 2003 Solana released the European Security Strategy, which sets out the main priorities and identifies the main threats to the security of the EU, including terrorism. On 25 March 2004, Solana appointed Gijs de Vries as the anti-terrorist co-ordinator for the CFSP, and outlined de Vries's duties as being to streamline, organise and co-ordinate the EU's fight against terrorism. He has negotiated numerous Treaties of Association between the European Union and various Middle Eastern and Latin American countries, including Bolivia and Colombia. Solana played a pivotal role in unifying the remainder of the former Yugoslavian federation. He proposed that Montenegro form a union with Serbia instead of having full independence, stating that this was done to avoid a domino effect that might proceed from demands for independence by Kosovo and Vojvodina. Local media sarcastically named the new country "Solania". On 21 January 2002, Solana said that the detainees at Guantanamo Bay should be treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention. The EU has stated that it hopes to avoid another war like the Iraqi invasion through this and future negotiations, and Solana has said the most difficult moments of his job were when the United Kingdom and France, the two permanent EU Security Council members, were in disagreement. The so-called Vilnius letter, a declaration of support by eastern European countries for the United States' aim of régime change in Iraq, and the letter of the eight, a similar letter from the UK, Italy, and six second-tier countries, are generally seen as a low-water mark of the CFSP. Solana