France blocking plan for EU code on arms exports
http://euobserver.com/24/23296?rss_rk=1
France blocking plan for EU code on arms exports
18.01.2007 - 17:43 CET | By Andrew Rettman
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - France is continuing to block a new EU code of
conduct on arms exports until member states give the green light to
start selling weapons to China, despite MEPs and the 2006 Finnish EU
presidency's efforts to revive the project.
The new legally-binding code - drafted in June 2005 - is designed to
replace an existing voluntary code dating back to 1998, adding fresh
clauses on control of arms brokers and shipment of weapons via third
countries to tackle changes in the modern arms business.
A huge majority of MEPs on Wednesday (17 January) supported a call by
Spanish green deputy Raul Romeva to pull the code out of the deep
freeze, following a similar appeal by the then Finnish EU presidency at
a lunch of EU foreign ministers in Brussels in December.
But France - Europe's biggest arms exporter - says the code can only go
ahead if the EU agrees to review an arms embargo on China, which was
imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and remains in force
until Beijing takes steps toward EU human rights norms.
"Things have changed a lot since Tiananmen Square and China is now one
of the most visited countries by EU politicians. We do not consider
China to be in the same group as other states that have arms embargoes
such as Burma or in Central Asia," a French diplomat said.
"We need to have a coherent policy on China and on arms. We have to put
our relations in compliance with the strategic level of partnership
that
we want to have with China," he added, with some three other unnamed EU
states falling in behind the French position.
Finnish diplomats and MEPs see the French stance as classic EU
political
horse-trading however, saying that there is no logical linkage between
agreeing a general set of principles and the particular case of
Beijing.
"It's a purely political link - most people don't see the connection,"
a
Finnish official said. "This is an important issue: we need to
reinforce
our rules if the EU is going to play a leading role in pushing for an
international agreement at UN level."
'Narrow commercial interests'
"It is unacceptable that a handful of member states...can use narrow
commercial interests to block EU arms export rules," Mr Romeva stated,
adding that EU arms or arms components currently turn up in conflict
hot-spots such as Sierra Leone, Sudan and Somalia.
One problem is the flow of cheap, small arms from some new EU states
such as Romania and Bulgaria or EU-hopeful states such as Serbia, with
western manufacturers in Germany or Austria making high-end guns which
are too expensive for most buyers in Africa.
"This code could be valuable for some of the new member states," the
head of the UK's Defence Manufacturers Association, major general Alan
Sharman, said. "It could help level the playing field in Europe with
some countries that are rather less scrupulous [than the UK]."
Stale-mate
The EU's top diplomat Javier Solana on Wednesday said the new code
"would be an important step forward if in the end it can be achieved,"
but there seems to be little pressure in the near future for France to
back down on its China link.
Mr Romeva will probably not revisit the topic until 2008. Finland will
not hold the EU chair until 2020 and the German EU presidency did not
put the issue in its list of 2007 priorities, with defence minister
Franz Josef Jung talking vaguely about "non-proliferation" when asked
on
the code by EUobserver.
"I don't see any interest for Germany to do something about this
today,"
an EU official said, with any EU decisions on the arms industry
requiring consensus by all 27 members in a sensitive sector where EU
colleagues don't like to tread on each other's toes.
Uh oh.
Killer identified as 18-year-old Solejman Talovic
The 18-year-old man who shot and killed at least five people Monday night at Trolley Square has been identified as Solejman Talovic, a Bosnian refugee who lived in Salt Lake City.
Little additional information was released about Talovic.
The Bosnian community, which numbers about 3,000 in Utah, planned a press conference later this afternoon.
Talovic parked his car in the west parking lot and walked into the mall, encountering two people, whom he shot. Then he walked further into the mall and shot a woman, said Police Chief Chris Burbank.
He then walked to a gift shop and shot five people. He shot several other people before he was gunned down by an off-duty Ogden police officer assisted by four Salt Lake City police officers, Burbank said. (snip)
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5218570