Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-06-14-Speech-3-245"
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"en.20060614.18.3-245"2
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". (
) Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to go into very specific detail about Mr Romeva I Rueda’s questions and I will try to answer them one after the other. I also want to thank you for your comments. In fact we are allies, since the objectives of the European Parliament and the European Council are in line with each other.
We are very grateful for the support of the European Parliament in this matter and for the very close cooperation of the Commission, too; and I believe that at the Conference in New York the European Union will indeed give a good account of itself.
As for the first question, on how the Council plans to cooperate with the Commission on preparations for a coherent and successful implementation of the Union’s strategy, in connection with appropriate funding: the strategy to combat illicit accumulation and trafficking of small arms and light weapons and their ammunition, adopted by the European Union in December 2005, concentrates on extending the capacities of the General Secretariat of the Council so that it may conclusively apply the strategy to combat illicit accumulation and trafficking of these weapons.
The strategy also provides that the General Secretariat of the Council will proceed in this matter in close coordination with the Commission and the Member States. In our view this is very important, because the strategy calls for coherence and complementarity between decisions of the European Union in the framework of GASP and measures taken by the Commission in the field of developmental aid, so that there is a coherent underlying approach to all projects and interventions by the European Union in the field of small arms and light weapons.
It seems to me that consistent policy between the institutions is of the utmost importance: only by being consistent can we remain credible to the world at large.
I can give a positive answer to the second question, as to whether the Presidency of the Council will ensure that it sends a delegation of the European Parliament to participate in the UN Review Conference 2006, in order to add a political and parliamentary impetus to the proceedings: I myself will lead the delegation and I am looking forward to it, because I think it is very important that the European Union raises its profile on an international stage. The relevant Council departments have checked and approved the participation of Members of the European Parliament in this Conference, and I am pleased that Members will indeed be taking part in this Conference. As far as I am informed, you yourself will be taking part, I am pleased to say, and other Members will also be able to take part. In this way we will undoubtedly further emphasise the importance of this issue for the European Union.
As for the third question – as to whether the Council is to propose the European Union’s 1998 code of conduct on weapons exports as a possible blueprint for the future Arms Trade Treaty, I can tell you that the Council’s publicised support for the Arms Trade Treaty is not intended as an attempt by the European Union to impose its own standards on the rest of the world. One could point out, however, that third states that strive towards modernising and completing their national export controls regard the EU code of conduct as an important reference document.
I know that I too am subject to this temptation. If we think that we in the European Union have worked out some excellent rules, then of course we would like to see these rules adopted worldwide. We have to be realistic here, however, and act as an example; if we act as a good example, then other states in similar situations will view our code of conduct as a guide.
In the framework of the Arms Trade Treaty, which represents an important project in humanitarian terms, as well as in terms of human rights, developmental policy and disarmament policy, the European Union is directing its efforts towards mobilising the widest possible supranational support for this.
One of our main concerns is to improve inspections of transfers of small arms and light weapons for the European Union as a whole. Other major concerns are to make small arms and light weapons more traceable, so-called ‘marking and tracing’, tighter controls on the arms trade and punitive measures against illegal trafficking of ammunition."@en1
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