Sir, One of the priorities for the Irish government during its tenure of the Presidency of the European Union must be to combat ongoing attempts to facilitate and develop the European armaments industry.
The collapse of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War has taken its toll on the European arms trade. Domestic demands for weapons is falling as military budgets are cut. The market for weapons in the developing world is falling as military budgets are cut. The European arms trade is losing ground to its American counterpart. However, the armaments sector is now flexing its muscles and has found an unlikely ally in the European Commission, which earlier this year published a series of proposals designed to boost the arms sector in a document entitled The Challenges facing the European Defence Related Industry, a Contribution for Action.
Among the Commission's proposals is a provision that would allow for greater EU structural funds to be channelled into weapon research, under the guise of funding for so called 'dual use' products products that according to the Commission, can have a civilian as well as a military purpose. This would amount to back door funding for weapons research. The amount of money involved should not be underestimated. The current framework programme for research amounts to Pounds 9.8 billion. If implemented the Commission's proposals would have the net effect of a substantial portion of the next framework programme's funding being allocated to weapon research.
The Commission has a partner in its attempts to support the armaments industry the Western European Union. The Commission calls for greater co- operation with the WEU and its associate body, the less well known Western European Armaments Agency, (WEAG) as a means of consolidating the European armaments industry. The aim of the WEAG is to promote co-operation on armaments between the WEU's thirteen members.
In essence the Commission proposals seek to establish a dynamic whereby the armaments sector, underpinned by a strong WEU and pro-active EU policies can be facilitated to grow and prosper. This is hardly an initiative that Ireland, with our historical commitment to peacekeeping and non proliferation can allow to take hold.
Earlier this year on a visit to Angola I saw at first hand the havoc wreaked by armaments and land mines in particular. The European Commission's proposals would do nothing to improve such situations and could only serve to undermine what limited success there has been in the control of conventional weapons.
However, the European armaments bandwagon continues to gain momentum. The British, French Italian and German governments are in the process of forming an armaments agency of their own in Europe in order to enhance co- operation in the winning of contracts and sales with third countries, including presumably the developing world.
To date the Irish government has made no comment on these developments. However, as holder of the Presidency of the European Union, Ireland cannot turn a blind eye. Instead we must make every effort to put a stop to the gallop of the armaments sector and in particular put pay to the European Commission misleading and ill founded proposals. Yours, etc., European Parliament Office, Molesworth St., Dublin 2.