Minority Opinion

tabled by GUE/NGL

Report on the implementation of the European Security Strategy in the context of the ESDP (2006/2033(INI))

Committee on Foreign Affairs, Rapporteur: Karl von Wogau

The report lacks the requirements for peace, focusing instead on preparation for militarization of the EU. We condemn the:

· continued militarization of CFSP which constitutes a global threat,
· global reach of the ESS, enticing strategies of preventive war (as in the draft written);
· deliberate mixing of civil and military missions;
· conduct of military operations under a humanitarian guise;
· creation of EU Battle Groups, Gendarmerie Force, intervention forces, autonomous EU command structures following the NATO model;
· militarization of EU external borders and use of a military processing to refugee problems;
· current system of hidden military budgets in civilian budget headings;
· disbursing of unknown amounts to NATO as payment for use of NAT0 structures;
· creation of the European Armaments Agency, establishing a common military equipment market to strengthen a military-industrial complex in the EU
· using competition for energy sources as justification of military intervention;

we demand:

· a civilian EU
· a strict compliance with international law and the UN Charter
· establishment of an EU disarmament agency
· military expenditure to be used instead for civilian purposes
· binding Code of Conduct on Arms Exports throughout the EU

Tobias Pflüger (GE), Willy Meyer-Pleite (ES), Athanasios Pafilis (GR), Erik Meijer (NL), Jaromir Kohlicek (CZ) from the GUE/NGL