Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-10-04-Speech-3-215"
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"en.20001004.9.3-215"2
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". – Mr President, it may have passed some people by, but the fact that I am able to stand here and lead a debate on the Council's annual report on arms exports is really quite sensational, firstly because for years this Parliament called for a code of conduct in arms exports and was told it was an impossible dream. Yet we have a code, thanks largely to the initiative of the British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, proof once again that where Parliament leads today, the Council will eventually follow.
I commend my report to the House. I urge the Council to act on my recommendations in order to enhance the EU's commitment to global peace and stability.
Secondly, when the code was agreed cynics said it was too weak and it would not work. Yet it is clear from the annual report that it has worked better than all expectations, including those of the Member State governments who approached this project with great suspicion. The code of conduct has led to greater mutual understanding, greater transparency and a greater convergence of Member States' policies. Furthermore non-EU countries are queuing up to associate themselves with the code. Clearly the more global the code the more effective it will be.
Thirdly, it was also feared that the code would be implemented in secret. Yet today, thanks to the Finnish Presidency, we are able to discuss the annual report. So great progress has been made in a short period of time. That I welcome and I congratulate everyone involved.
Effective and coherent EU policy on arms exports is essential if the EU is to pursue its external objectives, particularly given that we have so many areas of instability on our borders. You cannot claim to respect democracy and human rights if you do not act to stop weapons of murder and repression falling into the wrong hands. You cannot seriously pursue conflict prevention and peacemaking without controlling arms exports, particularly small arms. You cannot expect public support for peacemaking operations if our troops face death from weapons which we have ourselves supplied.
At the same time the European defence industries remain strategically and economically important to the EU. In order to survive they need to continue their consolidation and rationalisation. A common arms exports policy is essential to this process. That is why the framework agreement signed by the six Member States in July was so important.
Despite the enormous progress made, there are areas where the code of conduct needs to be strengthened. The Council annual report itself identified the need for a common list of military equipment to be established. This was agreed in June and progress has been made on the list for paramilitary, public order, and internal security equipment. I wholeheartedly welcome these developments.
The code, however, is only a political commitment between Member States. It should be legally binding. Article 7 of the code commits Member States to prevent exports being diverted to undesirable end users. Yet end user regulations vary enormously from country to country. They should be better coordinated and more effective. As a starting point we need a Community-wide database of information on licences and sensitive end users.
It is clear that many weapons find themselves in the wrong hands because of the activity of arms brokers. Yet most countries have little, if any, control over them. In my own country I would need a licence to own a shotgun but not to set up as an arms broker in my garden shed. This is wrong and I welcome the British Government's announcement last week that it is to stop. We need to control the activities of arms brokers throughout the EU. I was stunned recently to discover that there are up to 300 arms brokers in the south-east of England alone. Modern civilisation is rightly offended by this unregulated trade in death. That is why progress has to be made on the German presidency proposals to control arms broking. That should be a priority now.
Lastly, the greatest safeguard against abuse of arms exports is transparency. The annual report is a large step forward but its transparency depends on the transparency of the national reports which it is created from. Some are better than others. Since 1997 my own government has published annual reports on arms exports which have been praised for their transparency. I urge all other governments to do the same."@en1
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