Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-10-27-Speech-3-170"
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"en.19991027.6.3-170"2
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"Mr President, the European Union has pushed for the speediest possible implementation of the Test Ban Treaty. All EU countries, whose ratification is needed to bring the treaty into force, have complied – including France and Great Britain, which have nuclear weapons. The EU believes that the CTBT is an important step in the promotion of non-proliferation and the decommissioning of weapons, and its entry into force will be to the benefit of all countries.
This being the case, the European Union deplores the decision taken on 13 October in the American Senate not to ratify the Test Ban Treaty. The decision reflects badly on the multilateral attempts that have been made to promote non-proliferation and decommissioning. The disappointment felt as a result of the decision was expressed, while it was still fresh in everybody’s mind, in the statement presented by the country to hold the presidency of the European Union on 13 October. There was also a resolution on the banning of nuclear testing passed at the Tampere Summit. We have also emphasised European Union support for the Test Ban Treaty in political dialogue between the EU and the United States.
In assessing the significance of what has happened, we should point out that President Clinton still assures us that he is doing his best to have the United States ratify the Treaty as soon as possible. President Clinton has stated that the United States will, in the future, refrain from carrying out nuclear test explosions.
International credibility regarding the nuclear test ban is strong. There is a long history of trying to ban nuclear testing, stretching back to the 1950s. As a result of hard negotiations, a general session of the United Nations approved the Test Ban Treaty in September 1996. 155 countries have now signed the treaty and 51 have ratified it. Of the 44 countries that use nuclear technology, and whose ratification is, under Article XIV of the treaty, a condition of the entry into force of the Test Ban Treaty, in all 26 have ratified it. A strong international reaction to the nuclear test explosions carried out by India and Pakistan last year showed that nuclear testing – no matter who is responsible – will meet with clear global condemnation.
In July 1999 the European Union adopted a common position, whose purpose it was to strengthen EU cooperation in international efforts to bring the CTBT into force. On the basis of the common position, the EU actively participated in the conference held this year on 6 – 8 October in Vienna according to Article XIV of the treaty. In addition, the EU has been involved in bilateral discussions to promote the entry into force of the treaty with all those countries that have not yet signed or ratified it, but whose ratification is vital for the treaty to come into force. These efforts to promote the treaty’s entry into force must continue, with the relevant objectives very much in mind. The EU is appealing to all countries, and especially those, and this includes the United States, whose ratification is a condition of the treaty coming into force, to become associated with the treaty as soon as possible.
The European Union considers the Non-Proliferation Treaty to be a major tool of international security that offers a set of global frameworks for the promotion of both non-proliferation and the decommissioning of weapons. The Test Ban Treaty supports this system of non-proliferation. The European Union is preparing to play a constructive role in the study conference with regard to the Non-Proliferation Treaty to be held in April – May of the year 2000.
The Test Ban Treaty is unique in nature. It prevents all nuclear tests in whatever place, including so-called peaceful nuclear explosions, which were the subject of a heated theoretical debate when the Non-Proliferation Treaty came into being in the 1960s. Compliance with the Test Ban Treaty will be monitored by means of a comprehensive system of verification, whose main element is a worldwide monitoring system consisting of 321 technical survey stations. The verification system also contains legal provisions that enables on-the-spot checks to be carried out when there is reason to suspect that there has been a breach of the treaty. The verification system is effective and makes it possible to check that the treaty is being complied with to a highly reliable degree. The system will support the maintenance of relationships built on trust among the parties to the treaty.
Members of the European Parliament, the European Union will play an active part in the preparatory work being done in Vienna to create an organisation for the implementation of the treaty and a verification system for it. The Union supports the efforts on the part of the CTBTO Preparations Commission to establish a verification system in good time and with the degree of efficiency the treaty requires."@en1
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