Report finds loopholes in regulation

Date: 10/11/05

MEPs will next week contend that proposed changes to the EU's code of conduct on arms exports will not prevent European weapons being used in foreign conflicts.

A report to be endorsed by the European Parliament on Thursday (17 November) identifies loopholes that would remain, should revisions which EU diplomats have agreed to the 1998 code come into effect.

Written by Spanish Green deputy Raül Romeva, the report says that a new code "will not prevent a recurrence" of recent cases where European arms companies were allowed to set up manufacturing facilities overseas.

Romeva also expresses concern about the February 2005 decision by the Walloon regional government to grant the New Lauchassée firm a licence for setting up an ammunition plant in Tanzania. Belgium's Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht has subsequently opposed the move, saying it ran counter to his country's efforts in promoting stability in Africa's Great Lakes region.

EU diplomats have agreed a series of amendments to the code over the past year. But their formal adoption by the Council of Ministers has been stalled because of differences over how the question of the Union's 16-year-old arms embargo on China should be resolved.

France, the main opponent of the embargo, has indicated it will block the revised code until an agreement on lifting the ban is secured.

A spokesman for the French representation in Brussels said: "We would rather see it introduced as part of a package, that would also include the lifting of the arms embargo on China."

Article anticipates a report, drafted by Spanish Green MEP Raül Romeva and to be endorsed by the European Parliament on 17 November 2005, which said that changes to the EU's code of conduct on arms exports would not prevent European weapons being used in foreign conflicts. The report identified loopholes that would remain, should revisions which EU diplomats had agreed to the 1998 code, come into effect.