| QCEA Responses
to the Convention on the Future of Europe
A CHOICE FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION: Pursuing Conflict Prevention
or Promoting the Arms Industry?
16 December 2002
Dear
Convention Member,
We
are writing to you ahead of this Friday’s plenary session
of the Convention to raise our concern about part of the Commission
Communication to the Convention on the Future of Europe (COM
(2002) 728, 4/12/2002). While this document, entitled ‘For
the European Union: Peace, Freedom, Solidarity’, is primarily
concerned with the institutional architecture of the EU, we would
like to draw your attention to a sentence which we believe poses
a great threat to peace and is in direct contradiction with the
EU’s commitment to conflict prevention.
Section
1.3.3 of the Commission Communication, headed ‘Common foreign
and security policy: Defining the common objectives and coherence
of outside action’ contains the following sentence:
“We
shall also have to encourage the development of the European
arms industry, underpinning a common view of the specific
threats facing the countries of Europe and the kind of action they
are having to take outside the territory of Europe.”
We
believe that the arms industry contributes to the escalation of
many violent conflicts worldwide. Indeed, this is a widely held
view; even the European Commission, in its Communication
on the Prevention of Violent Conflict (COM(2001) 211, April
2001), cites “the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction
and small arms” in a list of factors which aggravate
conflict. As the raison d’être of the arms industry
is to make a profit from the sales of arms, this directly contributes
to the proliferation of armaments in the world.
We
also believe that the EU is uniquely placed to play a role in the
global prevention of violent conflict and applaud efforts that have
been made in this direction. As the EU
Programme for the Prevention of Violent Conflicts explains:
“The
European Union is a successful example of conflict prevention, based
on democratic values and respect for human rights, justice and solidarity,
economic prosperity and sustainable development.”
We
support the European Presidency Conclusions of the Göteborg
European Council (15 and 16 June 2001) which state that “Conflict
prevention is one of the main objectives of the Union’s external
relations and should be integrated in all its relevant aspects,
including the European Security and Defence Policy, development
cooperation and trade”. However, under section 1.3.3
of the Commission Communication to the Convention, there is no mention
of conflict prevention as an objective of CFSP. In our view, and
in accord with the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (EPLO)
submission to the Convention, conflict prevention should be the
major objective of CFSP and in fact of the EU as a whole. Support
for the arms trade is in contradiction with this objective.
We
therefore urge you to push for the EU’s existing commitment
to conflict prevention to be included under Article 3 of the Preliminary
Draft Constitutional Treaty (or the corresponding article in any
future draft). We also urge you not to include
the encouragement of the development of the European arms industry
as an aim of the EU, but rather to encourage disarmament and non-proliferation
as part of the EU’s commitment to conflict prevention.
Yours
faithfully,
Liz
Scurfield and Martina Weitsch
Joint
Representatives
The
Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) was founded in 1979 to
promote the values of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
in the European context. Our purpose is to express a Quaker vision
in matters of peace, human rights, and the right sharing of world
resources.
The
Quaker concern for peace derives from a belief in the unique value
of individuals. The worldwide Quaker tradition of peace has evolved
over three hundred and fifty years, and the peace testimonies remain
a guide and inspiration for activism to the present day. Quakers
believe conflict can be avoided by mutual understanding of needs
at the earliest stage, and therefore violence should never become
necessary.
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