ABSTRACT: From the resolution approved by the European Parliament on 18 April 1991 and from the resolution approved by the Nato assembly earlier this year:

(The Party New, n.2, July 1991)

The European Parliament

urges the Community to take immediate initiatives to reduce the exportation of arms, goods and technologies which can be used for military ends and to elaborate Community regulations on the policy with regard to arms exportation providing for sanctions towards member States which fail to respect the embargo on the supply of arms;

calls for a total ban on the exportation of technology and raw materials that allow the production of nuclear, biological and chemical arms;

calls for a ban on the exportation of arms, goods and technologies which can be used for military ends to countries which fail to respect the internationally recognized laws on the subject of human rights, in particular the Geneva Convention;

calls for the development of co-operation in the sector of civilian technology and economic aid for countries which agree not to build up technologically advanced military arsenals, reduce military spending and bring their domestic policies into line with the principles of democracy and strict respect of human rights;

calls on the Community to give its support to the proposal to set up a UN register of arms sales, as a measure aimed at establishing control over international trade in this sector, and insists on the fact that the exportation of conventional arms, as well as the weapons of mass destruction, to unsettled geographical regions must be subject to strict controls;

charges its President to transmit the present resolution to the Council, to the European Political Co-operation, and to the Commission.

The Nato Assembly

notes with concern that the unchecked proliferation of conventional and non-conventional arms threatens the security and the stability of the Middle East and of other areas, and causes the diversion of the resources necessary for development and peace.

(...) It is necessary to halt the proliferation of non-conventional arms, such as ballistic missiles, chemical weapons, biological weapons, nuclear weapons and the technologies for the production of such arms.

(...) It is necessary to limit and control the proliferation of conventional arms in all regions, particularly in the Middle East regions.