The increase in illegal trafficking in plutonium is a very worrying development. This was an issue I highlighted in this Parliament almost 2 years ago. Although we can take some comfort from the successful seizure of an illegal consignment in Munich in August, we are nonetheless left wondering about exactly how much of the dangerous substance has fallen into the wrong hands.

It threatens world peace; it is also potentially lethal in the hands of criminals and terrorists and it represents a serious threat to the environment. I would hope that we in the European Union will be able, in cooperation with the Russian authorities, to counter this trade. There is a need for greater police cooperation especially at our external borders and of course the umbrella of Europe offers an already existing structure to achieve this.

There is no room for complacency in tackling this problem if we are to avert a major disaster before it is too late.