The European Parliament adopted by 415 votes to 124, with 74 abstentions, a resolution on nuclear security and non-proliferation.
The text adopted in plenary was tabled by the EPP, S&D, ALDE and Greens/EFA groups.
Members stressed that the global security environment, and particularly that of the EU, has deteriorated considerably, becoming more fluid, more precarious and less predictable. There are conventional, unconventional and hybrid threats, generated by both state and non-state regional and global actors.
Furthermore, international peace, security and stability are seriously challenged by various developments, including deteriorating relationships between nuclear-armed states such as the Russian Federation and the United States, and India and Pakistan, and the further development of nuclear capabilities by North Korea.
As of January 2016 nine states – the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) – possessed a total of approximately 15 395 nuclear weapons.
Reducing nuclear risk: Parliament called on all nuclear-weapon states to take concrete interim measures to reduce the risk of nuclear-weapon detonations, including:
Members welcomed the recommendation to the UN General Assembly to convene a conference in 2017, open to all states, to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination. It invited the EU Member States to support the convening of such a conference.
The resolution called for a deepening of the dialogue with all nuclear-armed states with a view to pursuing a common agenda aimed at progressive reductions of nuclear warhead stockpiles. It supported, in particular, the steps taken by the US and Russia to reduce their deployed nuclear weapons as agreed in the new START Treaty on the reduction of strategic arms.
Members supported further efforts to strengthen the mandate of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and sought to ensure that sufficient resources are made available to that organisation to enable it to fulfil its vital mandate in making nuclear activities secure.
Russia: Parliament expressed its deep concern at the increased nuclear threats arising from the Russian attitude, at the deteriorating relationship with NATO, statements indicating an increased readiness to use nuclear weapons, and statements indicating consideration of the potential deployment of nuclear weapons to additional territories in Europe. Members drew attention to Russian military exercises simulating the use of nuclear weapons against Poland, and expressed deep concern regarding the deployment of nuclear-capable Iskander missile systems to the Kaliningrad oblast, which neighbours EU Member States Poland and Lithuania.
Iran: Parliament welcomed the agreement between the P5+1 powers and Iran on the latter’s nuclear ambitions. This Iran Nuclear Deal was a notable achievement for multilateral diplomacy, and for European diplomacy in particular, which should not only make a substantial improvement in EU-Iran relations possible but also help to promote stability across the whole region.
North Korea (DPRK): Members condemned the latest nuclear tests conducted by the DPRK and the rejection by that country of the various UN Security Council resolutions, and they urged the DPRK to refrain from further provocative actions by abandoning its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner. They called on the DPRK to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Parliament wanted to see a diplomatic and political solution to the DPRK nuclear issue and supported the resumption of the Six-Party Talks.
Lastly, as a follow up measure to the EU Global Strategy, Parliament urged the EEAS to update and expand the 2003 EU Strategy against proliferation of WMD, with a view to making the EU a driving force in strengthening and taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation agreements.