The European Union's involvement in negotiating an arms trade treaty / [electronic resource] Sara Depauw

SIP1212

"December 2012".

The European Union (EU) strongly supports the development of a global ATT. The EU coordinated internally to streamline national positions and converge diverging approaches on the content of the ATT. Furthermore, it pleaded for an inclusive process and put this into practice by organizing outreach seminars for all UN member states. However, during the negotiations in July 2012 the EU encountered difficulties in streamlining national policies and fulfilling its ambitious role to act as a global actor. Striking the right balance between effective national diplomacy and EU consistency during the negotiations proved to be challenging. Although UN member states did not reach an agreement in July, the EU has a crucial role to play in future negotiations, which will continue in March 2013.

The EU Non-Proliferation Consortium is a network of foreign policy institutions and research centres from across the EU engaged in political and security-related dialogue and discussion of measures to combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their delivery systems. The Consortium is managed jointly by SIPRI and three other institutes, in close cooperation with the representative of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The three institutes are the Fondation pour la recherche stratégique in Paris, the Peace Research Institute in Frankfurt (HSFK/PRIF), and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London.

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