RESOLUTION B3-0364, 0373, 0379, 0387 and 0390/93

Resolution on stopping nuclear tests by the nuclear powers

The European Parliament,

-having regard to the 1963 Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of 1968, the Threshold Test Ban Treaty of 1974 and the Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Treaty of 1976,

-having regard to the on-going Geneva Conference on Disarmament and the START agreements,

A.welcoming in this regard the forthcoming meeting between Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin,

B.whereas the Extension Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (to which all EC Member States are signatories) will open in 1995,

C.whereas nuclear testing is likely to be one of the central issues of the Extension Conference as a multilateral, comprehensive ban would help protect individual health and the environment, and enhance efforts to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons,

D.whereas there exists at the moment a real danger of nuclear proliferation and the emergence of new nuclear-weapon states,

E.whereas international control on the transfer of nuclear material and knowledge has become more urgent than ever before,

F.welcoming the French proposal of last November calling on the representatives of the five nuclear powers at the Geneva Disarmament Conference to undertake a joint reflection on the nuclear testing question and aware that the nuclear test ban represents an important step towards extending the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty after 1995;

1.Welcomes the moratoria on underground nuclear testing proclaimed by France, Russia and the US until 1 July 1993;

2.Calls upon the other nuclear states to join these moratoria and to adopt a common approach to the nuclear test issue;

3.Calls upon all states, and in particular on the non-Russian CIS Republics to join the NPT without delay;

4.Urges the EC Signatories of the NPT to initiate, at the earliest possible date, multilateral negotiations toward a comprehensive nuclear weapons test ban;

5.Calls upon the governments of the twelve Member States to take appropriate steps to strengthen the international control of transfer of nuclear material;

6.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments of France, the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Russia, and the other CIS Republics and to the Chairman of the UN Conference on Disarmament currently in session in Geneva.