Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-25-Speech-4-105"

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"Mr President, I should like to say first of all that I share the hope that the Code of Conduct, when applied in the long term, will mean that fewer arms are manufactured, whereas Mr von Wogau gave the impression in his speech that the aim was for less money to be spent on manufacturing arms. Secondly, I have to say – and I would ask the President to send a note to this effect to the Council – that a discussion is being held here between the European Parliament and the Council, which means that the Council Presidency is actually who we should be talking to because it has 100% responsibility for implementing the Code, and I am disappointed that it is not represented here at all. Thirdly, given that the Council Presidency is not taking its responsibilities seriously, I actually think that it would be sensible for the Commission to share that responsibility, namely where integrated instruments apply, which would also give the European Parliament a better opportunity of contributing to improving the Code of Conduct. One of the key issues that we need to address is the Europe-wide registration of arms with the involvement of all Member States, and I think that entrusting the Commission with these tasks would be an important institutional step forward. The main problem – and this has already been mentioned – is that the Code is not binding and cannot therefore be applied effectively. This is therefore another central issue that urgently needs to be resolved. Nevertheless, we also still have the problem – and this too has already been mentioned – that this Code is insufficient to ensure proper surveillance of arms movements. That is why we urgently need registration, firstly of the product, secondly of its movements and thirdly of the end-user. It is also necessary to have a register of how the arms are intended to be used when they reach the end-user, and for this purpose we need a joint surveillance office in the European Union. Even better would be an arbitration service, an ombudsman, to deal with questions and criticism from the public, because arms can still end up in the wrong place and because arms from the European Union still lead to conflicts today. I think that it has become clear that the main problem with the Arms Code is implementation. In terms of implementation, we still fall far short of meeting our actual standards, and we also know that arms exports still lead to fresh violence in latent conflicts, to the violation of human rights and to situations of war, where we then have to invest more money and personnel to restore peace to the region. That is why one of the key tasks of a common foreign and security policy is to ensure that arms exports are tracked and restricted and that those who violate the Code are punished accordingly."@en1

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