9 November 2001

U.S. Nuclear Agenda Provokes European Unease

Parliamentarians Urge Greater U.S. Cooperation Internationally

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In the days preceding important negotiations on nuclear weapons testing and control, leaders in key European capitals are challenging the administration of President George W. Bush to live up to its promises to uphold multilateral agreements that form the first line of defense against the development, acquisition, and use of nuclear weapons.

While applauding Washington’s recent efforts to work with its allies, parliamentarians in Europe are worried about U.S. commitment to arms control measures that serve to strengthen global security.  In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, experts believe that weapons of mass destruction are increasingly accessible to radical groups.  Enforcement of international agreements, they argue, is the surest path to securing better arms control worldwide.

Jan Hoekema, Chairman of the Defense and Security Committee in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, encouraged further collaboration between the United States and its European allies in order to stymie proliferation efforts.  Hoekema noted that while “transparency and reductions in nuclear arsenals are significant,” a world facing increasing dangers from weapons of mass destruction requires “a return to multilateralism… and that should be an integral part of the arms control agenda.”

The conference on the implementation of the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), being held Nov. 11-13 at the United Nations in New York, will be the first post-Sept. 11 testing ground for the Bush administration to collaborate with allies on these issues.  However, with reports that the U.S. government may not send a delegation to the meeting, the administration’s action could “increase suspicion of the United States and has the potential to add to international tension,” according to Colin Campbell, Member of the Scottish Parliament and Shadow Defense Spokesman for the Scottish National Party.

The United States and 186 other countries, as part of their commitments to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), promised in May 2000 to move quickly to implement the CTBT.  However, President Bush indicated early in his tenure that he will not ask the US Congress to ratify the CTBT.  Increased interest in Washington on developing low-yield nuclear weapons, combined with proposals to reduce the lead time for nuclear test preparations, point to a White House that may have little interest in participating in discussions to implement the test ban.  The United States is among 13 countries required to ratify the CTBT before it may enter into force.

European officials stress that the Bush administration has failed to support this and other NPT commitments through its policy choices.  Hoekema pointed out that both President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed the importance of the NPT during their spring discussions and added, “The NPT is, for good reasons, the cornerstone of the nuclear non-proliferation regime.” 

Governments in Europe are also keeping a watchful eye on the upcoming Bush-Putin summit next week, during which nuclear arsenal reductions and the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty will be discussed.  Reports indicate that the two leaders will agree on significant cuts to the U.S. and Russian arsenals.  Bush may agree to the reductions so that Putin will consent to changes in the ABM Treaty, thereby allowing broader U.S. testing of missile defense systems.  China already has stated that it will increase its arsenal in light of U.S. missile defense plans, and other states may step up their own ballistic missile research and development.

However, Malcolm Savidge, UK Labour MP and Chair of the All Party Working Group on Non-Proliferation stressed safe and verifiable reductions can be assured only if the countries codify cuts in a treaty.  He emphasized, “They should remember the promises given only last year in New York ‘to maintain and strengthen the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.’  We look to them to promote a safer world, in which treaties are honored, and trust is combined with verification.”

Dr. Ian Davis, BASIC’s Director, said, “In the current security environment, the United States must work to build bridges with its European partners rather than pursue a destabilizing unilateralist agenda.  With the threat of terrorism more apparent than ever, the world must pursue a cooperative agenda on controlling the spread of nuclear weapons technology.  Central to this process is the need for a strengthened CTBT and verifiable and irreversible arms reductions by the US and Russia.”
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For further information, please contact:
Ian Davis or Christine Kucia in Washington at 202 347 8340 or
Mark Bromley in London at +44 20 7407 2977
 

BASIC is attending the CTBT Conference!
Contact Christine Kucia at 202-487-4386.

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