European Union initiatives: Strategy against proliferation of weapons of mass destruction

Abstract

The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) has been at the centre of international political security matters for a long time. On 12 December 2003, the European Council of the European Union (EU) adopted the Strategy against Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (EU's WMD Strategy) with the ultimate objective 'to prevent, deter, halt and, where possible, eliminate proliferation programmes of concern worldwide'. This was the first public high-level document on non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This Strategy was prepared within the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and is a part of the European Security Strategy (ESS), which constitutes the base document for all five new key threats. The Strategy includes mutual measures which European Union Member States should take to eliminate or reduce the risks of proliferation. This chapter refers to the Strategy, as well as to its implementation, since 2004. By means of selected case studies, the analysis aims to explore whether, and if so how, the EU has reacted during the past years in tackling the increasing proliferation risk. In this regard, this chapter focuses mainly on two of the EU's aims stated in its WMD Strategy: the promotion of a stable international and regional environment as well as a close cooperation with key partners.