EU STRATEGY AGAINST THE PROLIFERATION
OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
Letter from Kim Howells MP, Minister of
State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the Chairman
In my letter to you of 11 July 2006,[62]
I undertook to keep you informed of progress on the EU Weapons
of Mass Destruction (WMD) Monitoring Centre. I am now enclosing
for your information the Concept Paper concerning the Monitoring
Centre. This paper was approved by the Political and Security
Committee on 21 November and will now be sent to the General Affairs
and Economic Relations Council on 11 December, where we do not
expect further discussion.
The paper sets out how the Council Secretariat,
the Commission and Member States will work together on the implementation
of the EU Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Strategy. It is not
creating a new structure or new budget lines, but is making official
a current working method. Following endorsement by the General
Affairs and Economic Relations Council, those involved will then
start to work together along the lines set out in the paper.
We have worked with the Council Secretariat
on the detail of this Concept Paper and feel that this final version
provides useful guidance for practical working methods, which
will help in the implementation of the EU WMD Strategy. I know
that your Committee has been concerned about possible duplication
with the work of the NATO WMD Centre and we have worked to ensure
that this is not the case.
29 November 2006
Letter from Kim Howells MP to the Chairman
The European Council endorsed the following
texts on 21 December 2006:
Six Monthly Progress Report on the implementation
of the EU Strategy against the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass
Destruction.
Updated list of priorities on the implementation
of the EU Strategy against the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass
Desctruction.
I am writing to submit these documents to your
committee for information, in response to your request of 18 November
2005 to Douglas Alexander.
The Six-Monthly Progress Report concentrates
on the main developments and trends rather than containing an
exhaustive repetition of all the items mentioned in the original
Strategy.
Your committee has previously shown interest
in the WMD Monitoring Centre and requested we keep you updated
of its progress. You will note from the progress report that on
11 December 2006 the Council endorsed the draft concept paper
on the Monitoring Centre. In my letter to you of 29 November 2006
I informed you of the details of this paper, explaining that it
sets out how the Council Secretariat, the Commission and the Member
States will work together on the implementation of the EU WMD
Strategy.
The progress report also calls attention to
the Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention (BTWC) Review Conference
that took place in November and December of 2006. This is a subject
I know is also of interest to you. In a letter of 16 January 2007,
I said that the main objectives of the common position, to strengthen
further the BTWC and to promote a successful outcome of the Review
Conference, were achieved. I also mentioned that some proposals
were put forward including the creation of an implementation support
unit and work to promote universal accession by all states to
the BTWC.
The progress report highlights recent Council
Joint Actions in support of the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) and Community activities in Russia and the Commonwealth
of Independent States (CIS). Further it mentions work on re-directing
former weapons scientists to prevent proliferation of expertise.
EU support for the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT) and
actions to prevent missile proliferation and to reinforce the
efficiency of export controls.
I am also submitting to you the updated list
of priorities on the Implementation of the EU WMD Strategy. This
is based on the list of priorities endorsed by the General Affairs
and External Relations Council (GAERC) in 2005 and takes into
account the experiences gained and the new challenges that have
arisen over the last 12 months, including the North Korean nuclear
test and continued Iranian non-compliance over its obligations.
We feel that these are good papers, showing
useful progress and development from the initial EU strategy.
They also reflect considerable UK input and in general support
our counter-proliferation policies.
29 January 2007
62 Correspondence with Ministers, 40th Report of Session
2006-07, HL Paper 187, pp 178-179. Back
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