WRITTEN QUESTION P-1596/01

by André Brie (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(21 May 2001)

Subject: Situation regarding the Chemical Weapons Convention

The Convention prohibiting chemical weapons is one of the most important and comprehensive international disarmament treaties. Its monitoring machinery was acclaimed when it was introduced, especially by the EU Member States' governments. Via this Convention,

for the first time, States party subjected themselves to effective national control on an equal footing. The Technical Secretariat of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has carried out some 1 000 international inspections, two-thirds of them on storage and production facilities for chemical weapons and one-third on the chemical industry.

Since then the effectiveness and independence of the inspections has been undermined as, for example, provisions subsequently adopted oblige the inspectors to hand over photocopies of their inspection notes to the inspected party at the end of the inspection. Secondly, the organisation has been plunged into financial crisis as important Member States have failed to meet their financial obligations. At present, a considerable number of the inspections required, especially on the chemical industry, are not being carried out, on financial grounds.

Has the Council addressed the situation regarding the Chemical Weapons Convention and, if so, what action is it considering to overcome the financial crisis facing the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons?

What is the Council's view of the subsequent changes to the inspection rules, and does it consider them to be an amendment to the Convention in breach of Article XV thereof which requires a special procedure and ratification procedures in all States Party to the Convention?

Is the Council prepared to support an international aid programme for the destruction of chemical weapons in Russia?

Reply

(29 November 2001)

The Council shares the Honourable Member's concern at the difficult financial situation in the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. In the EU statement delivered by the Presidency at the Sixth Chemical Weapons Conference of States Parties to the Criminal Weapons Convention (The Hague, 14-18 May 2001), the EU underlined that the situation required resolute measures, both for solving the acute financial difficulties and for tackling the structural budgetary problems and stressed the importance of the issue for full and effective implementation of the Convention.

As to the detailed procedures for inspections, the Verification annex to the Convention stipulates in Part II (General rules of verification), that The inspected State Party shall receive copies, at its request, of the information and data gathered about its facility(ies) by the Technical Secretariat..

On 17 December 1999 the Council adopted a Joint Action establishing a European Union Cooperation Programme for Non-Proliferation and Disarmament in the Russian Federation. The objective of the programme is to support the Russian Federation in its efforts towards arms control and disarmament. Within that framework, installation services and equipment valued at nearly 6 million will be delivered to projects relating to the chemical weapons destruction plant in Gorny.