WRITTEN QUESTION E-2292/00 by Caroline Lucas (Verts/ALE), Ulla Sandbæk (EDD) and Luisa Morgantini (GUE/NGL) to the Council. United States Missile System.
Date: 2000-07-11
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: ABM Agreement, United States, anti-missile defence, defence policy, international security

18.4.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 113 E/81

Reply

(20 November 2000)

The Council thanks the Honourable Member for his question and shares his concern at the discoveries of
illegal arms dumps and the number of armed incidents.

The Honourable Member is doubtless aware that the EU has no direct responsibility with regard to respect
for order and public safety in Kosovo. That is the task of the UNMIK Police Force and of KFOR, the
international armed force led by NATO on the basis of the mandate given by Security Council Resolution
1244. However, the EU Member States make an important contribution to both forces in terms of both
human resources and financial and technical assistance.

from its deployment

it collected more than 13 000 rifles,
KFOR claims that,
almost 2 500 pistols, 1 100 support weapons such as machine guns and mortars, more than 500 anti-
tank missiles, a number of anti-aircraft weapons, some 30 000 explosive devices and more than 7 500 000
rounds of ammunition. Each day it destroys some 200 weapons. Since that date there have been repeated
discoveries and confiscations of weapons, including inter alia the major discoveries made in four bunkers
near the village of Klecke on 21 June and in the Ferizaj/Urosevac region on 31 July.

to 25 April 2000,

The Council welcomes those successes, which will help to increase security in a region where attacks on
properties and persons are still frequent. The Council condemns the persistence of ethnic violence and
urges the leaders of all the communities to commit themselves wholeheartedly to combating that violence.

However, the Council does not have the aggregate figures which the Honourable Member has requested of
it for the total number of weapons confiscated or armed incidents.

(2001/C 113 E/079)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2292/00

by Caroline Lucas (Verts/ALE), Ulla Sandb(cid:230)k (EDD)
and Luisa Morgantini (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(11 July 2000)

Subject: United States Missile System

What is the opinion of the Council about the new United Nations National Missile Defence System (NMD)?
Would the Council agree that the NMD contravenes the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, could cost as
much as USD 240 billion, will trigger a new global arms race and completely ignores the EU(cid:146)s interests in
disarmament?

Does the Commission know of US efforts to influence EU Member States such as Denmark and the United
Kingdom into allowing installations for the NMD on their respective territories?

Has the Council been in contact with the Heads of State of EU Member States in order to coordinate
European cooperation to counter United States pressure to install the system?

Reply

(20 November 2000)

The European Union has reaffirmed the importance of the 1972 ABM Treaty as one of the mainstays of
strategic stability. The EU wishes to see that Treaty preserved. This Union position was voiced, inter alia, at
the year 2000 review conference of the Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.