Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-06-18-Speech-3-078"
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"en.20030618.7.3-078"2
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". Mr President, over the last three or four years the High Representative and I have made speeches on this subject which I guess you could measure by the metre, and if you were to look at them, you would find that they were all remarkably similar and reflected the arguments which the High Representative has put again so forcefully and ably today.
Above all, however, the EU can contribute to international security through its work in – and support for – multinational frameworks and disciplines that are increasingly necessary and important for managing the affairs of an interdependent world. I am thinking here of UN disarmament and non-proliferation Conventions; environmental Treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change; and, of course, the International Criminal Court. I could go on – but the point is clear. We cannot simply divide between our security interests on the one hand and our development and trade interests on the other. In order to prevent future violent conflicts we have to have policies on environmental degradation, poverty and global governance, AIDS, Justice and Home Affairs, nuclear safety, and so on. I think the point is clear.
So the underlying conclusion is that effective multilateralism should be the motto on the European Union’s banner. That is the essence of our security strategy.
I shall say a brief word about small arms and light weapons, because that too underlines the importance of practical and effective multilateralism. We are committed to combating the spread of small arms around the world. A code of conduct on arms exports was adopted five years ago, under which Member States set high common standards for the management of conventional arms transfers. The code has since established itself as a comprehensive international arms export regime. In a joint action covering small arms later in 1998 the EU pledged to promote a number of principles including commitments by all countries to supply small arms only to governments, and to import and hold arms exclusively for their legitimate security needs. The EU has set aside funds for the provision of financial and technical assistance to small arms programmes and projects around the world.
I look forward to the publication of the document on security. As the High Representative said, this will be the beginning of a very important debate, and of course much of that debate will take place in these hallowed chambers. We look forward to hearing the contributions of honourable Members who have already made a significant contribution to the broader comprehension of security which is now shared throughout the EU.
In many respects it is remarkable that the European Union has proceeded so far and so fast towards a Common Foreign and Security Policy, and towards a Security and Defence Policy without the benefit – until now – of a formal Security Strategy. The Commission very much welcomes the decision to rectify that omission and looks forward to the debates that will take place on the strategy document which is going to come forward shortly.
On the defence and military side there has been impressive progress in creating European capacities that the Union is already beginning to put to use. As the High Representative has said, we need to be explicit about our strategic purposes, and the circumstances in which the European Union might deploy force. As I have said before and as he has said, we also have to challenge our colleagues in government and our electorates about the gap which exists between ambition and what people are prepared to pay, and what people are prepared to cooperate over.
The Commission, as I have said before, is not a silent and disinterested onlooker in this debate. We have no direct role in defence and military matters, and even in the absence of my honourable friend Mr Van Orden, I repeat that we do not aspire to a direct role in defence and military matters. But whatever the EU does militarily – whether in conflict prevention, crisis management or post-conflict reconstruction – is inevitably part of a wider European strategy including many elements for which the Commission does indeed have the lead responsibility. The European Union needs a seamless approach, which is why the High Representative and I – with our respective services – have worked so closely together, and why I am pleased that the European Convention has proposed even closer integration in future.
The real point I want to make, however, is that defence and military issues are only one dimension – and for the European Union still a relatively small dimension – of any 'Security Strategy' which is worthy of the name.
In a sense, the EU itself – its creation, its development and its enlargement – can be seen as a European Security Strategy, and it has been a brilliantly effective one. The Union has provided the central economic and political organising principle for our continent over the last half century, helping to secure democracy and stability for countries emerging from dictatorship and oppression. Through the Wider Europe agenda, too, we seek to extend stability to our neighbours and the circle of friends around us. Perhaps the central element in any security strategy for Europe must be to ensure that the EU itself continues to prosper and to develop.
Beyond that, the EU is a major contributor to international security in a host of different contexts: through, for example, our contribution to global trade. The EU has played a central role in the creation and development of the World Trade Organisation, and we are now engaged in the Doha Development Round. It would be hard to exaggerate the importance of that work for global security, because security and prosperity are so closely intertwined.
We also contribute to global security through external development assistance. I have pointed out to the House before that we are responsible – the EU, the Commission and Member States – for about 55% of all such assistance worldwide, and for about two-thirds of all grant assistance. That is a vital contribution to security because poverty and inequality are not just moral issues but also security issues.
Through our assistance, too, we work for human rights and for better governance. Again, these are security issues linked, for example, to the fight against terrorism, because inequality and oppression are the breeding ground of hatred, intolerance and violence."@en1
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