Gerard Murphy (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 31: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the progress being made on the EU strategy on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13490/05]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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A progress report on implementation of the December 2003 EU strategy on non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction was adopted by the General Affairs and External Relations Council, GAERC, and endorsed by the European Council last December. On that occasion, the Council also reaffirmed its commitment to use all instruments at its disposal to counter the threat of proliferation of WMD and their means of delivery.

The report, which is available on the EU's official website, highlighted the significant progress that has been achieved on the implementation of the strategy, including with respect to relations with third countries and co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, OPCW. EU démarches to third countries were also carried out to promote key multilateral treaties and agreements. These included démarches concerning the universalisation of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, comprehensive safeguard agreement and additional protocol, the biological and toxin weapons convention, BTWC, and the Hague code of conduct against ballistic missile proliferation. The EU has also continued its efforts in pursuit of membership for a number of newly acceded member states to the relevant export control regimes, that is, both the missile technology control regime and the Wassenaar arrangement, which deals with conventional weapons.

The EU's peer review mechanism, under which clusters of member states examined each other's dual-use control systems with a view to identifying best practices, was undertaken during Ireland's Presidency of the EU and completed last July. A task force, comprising Finland, the Commission and the Council secretariat, has drawn up a report in which a number of recommendations for the strengthening of the EU's export controls system have been set out. These recommendations are currently being considered by the relevant working group in Brussels.

Most recently, the EU has adopted a common position on the 2005 review conference of states parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which is scheduled to take place from 2-27 May 2005 in New York.