Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-03-08-Speech-2-145"
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"en.20050308.20.2-145"2
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"Mr President, I am obviously speaking here on behalf of my fellow-Commissioner, Mrs Ferrero-Waldner, who is unfortunately on an assignment.
The Commission is negotiating on the trade and cooperation-related aspects in good faith, fully taking into account the global context of the nuclear talks and the progress made in that field. We think that should make a decisive contribution to our collective effort by opening up the way to sustainable relations and long-term cooperation between the European Union and Iran. We are in fact convinced that this agreement and the prospects of joining the World Trade Organisation could bolster the necessary economic and social reforms in Iran, thus paving the way for the country’s full reintegration into the international community.
I come now to North Korea. That country’s announcement on 10 February that it was withdrawing
from the six-party talks and that it had developed nuclear weapons was clearly not very astute, despite Kim Jong II’s conciliatory words as few days later, when he proposed resuming talks if conditions changed. It has made an already difficult process even more complicated. The recent visit to Pyongyang by a Chinese envoy gives us hope that talks may resume; China’s diplomatic efforts deserve our full support.
Internal developments in North Korea, especially the provisional measures taken towards reform and the resulting social tensions, have recently given rise to a strengthening of control by the authorities. This is having repercussions on North Korea’s foreign policy. We witnessed similar scenarios in Europe’s former socialist countries. The position adopted by the European Union is not to over react to virulent statements from Pyongyang. We will continue to make clear to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea that the nuclear problem must be resolved and that the six-party talks are the best way of dealing with this question. We will continue to insist that the DPRK must fully comply with all its international non-proliferation commitments, in particular the Non-proliferation Treaty and the IAEA guarantee agreement, and that it must abandon any nuclear weapons programme completely.
At the same time, the European Union thinks it is important to encourage more contacts between North Korea and the outside world and to support economic reform and change in that country.
The Commission agrees with the Council that the Non-proliferation Treaty must be preserved by every means and even strengthened if possible. This point is made in the EU strategy against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction adopted by the Council in December 2003 and which the Commission, in close cooperation with the Council, is helping to implement. The strategy recognises in particular the need to guarantee adequate financial resources from the budget and Community powers. In support of this, the Commission presented its proposals for the next financial instruments to Parliament and the Council in October 2004.
So far as the instrument for stability in external relations is concerned, specific reference was made to disarmament and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The Commission’s proposal is currently being examined by the budgetary authority. We hope it will result in more resources for promoting the European Union’s activities in the field of disarmament and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the period 2007-2013.
More specifically, so far as the NPT is concerned, these financial resources should support actions to strengthen the treaty’s three pillars: non-proliferation, disarmament and cooperation in the safe use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
In the context of world partnership, the Commission believes that the commitment it gave at the Kananaskis G8 summit in July 2002 against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and related matters is particularly important. That involves implementing projects that will really enable us to help third countries to collect nuclear or radioactive material and make it secure and/or eliminate it, effectively controlling exports or preventing illegal trafficking in materials and equipment that might be used to manufacture nuclear devices, ensuring that specialists and scientists who were previously engaged in arms-related activities are retrained and, finally, contributing to the risk-free development of nuclear applications. All these initiatives would help us reach the ultimate objective of the Non-proliferation Treaty.
During the current year, the Commission has been engaged in a pilot scheme decided by Parliament at the end of 2003. This pilot scheme currently serves to finance an exploratory study under the direction of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (Unidir) and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI); it will help the Commission, in cooperation with Parliament and the Council, to press ahead with the programming of new financing instruments.
The Commission expects to present the results of the study in November at a conference of parliamentarians and Member State delegations made up of representatives of the national parliaments and governments, to be held at the European Parliament.
Concerning Iran, as you know the European Union has just resumed talks with that country based on, and following on from, the Paris Agreement between Iran, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, with the support of the European Union’s high representative. That agreement and the subsequent monitoring of the implementation of Iran’s voluntary decision to suspend all enrichment and reprocessing-related activities led the European Union to resume its policy of differentiated and progressive engagement with Iran.
We have therefore resumed negotiations on an agreement covering such sensitive political issues as, on the one hand, the promotion of human rights, fighting terrorism, the Middle East peace process, weapons of mass destruction and, on the other hand, trade and cooperation."@en1
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