Activites

• #2655
• 2005/04/25 Council Meeting
• 2005/04/14 Results of vote in Parliament
  • Results of vote in Parliament
  • T6-0132/2005 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Elmar BROK (EPP-ED, DE). (Please see the document of 16/03/05.) The vote was adopted by 431 for, 85 against and 31 abstentions. Parliament asked the Council to ensure that its policy instruments, such as sanctions policy, are implemented with greater rigour and political commitment. The Council should also make every effort to give real substance to the Solidarity Clause for Defence provided for in the Constitutional Treaty as soon as that Treaty enters into force and a genuine and effective common foreign and security policy is in place. In the context of the Security Strategy, Parliament emphasised the need to develop a corresponding security culture and therefore supported unreservedly the work now under way on implementing the EU training concept in the ESDP sphere. The development and setting-up of a European Security and Defence College must in future provide the institutions of the European Union and the Member States with well-trained staff who are capable of operating effectively in the ESDP sphere; to this end, the College must be organised on a viable basis and appropriately funded.Parliament asked the Council to take immediate steps to correct the existing imbalance in geographical terms among the CFSP acts adopted in the last ten years, so that a fairer balance between the different regions can be achieved in accordance with the global ambitions of the Union. The Council should particularly strike a geographical balance between the efforts made so far eastwards due to enlargement and renewed efforts towards the south of the Mediterranean. However, it should avoid any cool gesture of diminished interest on the part of the EU for progress in the western Balkans, Ukraine and the southern Caucasus, at least.Therefore, Parliament felt that steps should be taken by the Council to enable the EU to take advantage of the privileged relationships existing with certain geographical areas (via bi-regional, multilateral or bilateral association agreements, etc.), in order to reinforce its multilateral strength when dealing with other emerging countries and regions with which no such privileged relationships have yet been established. Increased priority must not be given to the EU's neighbourhood at the expense of crucial relations and solidarity between the EU and developing countries in the world.Moving on, Parliament regretted that relations with China have made progress only in the trade and economic fields, without any substantial achievement as regards human rights and democracy issues. There must be a binding EU code governing arms exports. The Council should not lift the arms embargo, but must find ways to encourage disarmament in cross-strait relations, supporting.Parliament felt that it is important for the EU and the USA to have a constructive relationship and for NATO to become once again more of a forum for political debate on an equal footing, in which a sensible balance must be struck between the instruments of prevention, crisis management and military capability. It is vital to adopt common positions (EP-US Congress) on certain global issues of common interest (the fight against terrorism, regional conflicts, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, disarmament, international law, effective multilateralism, energy cooperation, climate change, etc). Especially in 2005, the tenth anniversary of the Madrid Declaration, new impetus should be given to transatlantic relations - completion of the transatlantic market by 2015, updating of the New Transatlantic Agenda with a Transatlantic Partnership Agreement to enter into force as soon as possible. Parliament considered that the EU as such should play a key role in the United Nations system, have a seat at the Security Council in future and support reform proposed by Kofi Annan.Finally, Parliament insisted on the crucial importance of making every effort to achieve a solution to the Middle East conflict on the basis of the Quartet Road Map and the implementation of the Strategic Partnership with the Mediterranean and the Middle East decided by the European Council in June 2004. The utmost effort must be made to contribute to the resolution of other existing or foreseeable conflicts and crises, such as those in Kosovo, Chechnya, Darfur, Somalia, the Great Lakes region, Iran and North Korea (DPRK), and to the pursuit of social progress in the world in line with the UN Millennium Development Goals.

• 2005/04/13 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2005/03/21 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • A6-0062/2005
• 2005/03/16 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• 2004/10/28 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading

Documents

• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A6-0062/2005
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T6-0132/2005

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)