Paris, 22 June 2006 – the WEU Assembly on Wednesday proposed setting up an “international nuclear fuel bank” as part of a global approach, also suggesting placing uranium and plutonium enrichment under “multinational control”.

The Assembly made its proposal on the basis of a report on “The non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction” prepared by Jelleke Veenendaal (Netherlands, Liberal Group). WEU members viewed the proliferation of WMDs as “the greatest threat facing Europe”, not just potentially as stated in the European Security Strategy, but in very real terms.

The Assembly was particularly concerned about the factors that damaged the credibility of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), such as the “tacit acceptance of undeclared nuclear powers” (Israel, India and Pakistan), the “nuclear cooperation agreement recently concluded between the United States and India”, and the concealment of nuclear activities by North Korea and Iran.

Calling for the rejection of policies where “double standards” operated, the report declared that as long as Israel held nuclear weapons, Iran too would want a nuclear bomb. This absence of “political coherence” would create risks and threats: including the difficulty of achieving universality and full compliance with treaties governing the non-proliferation of WMD “in the near future” and the possibility of “black markets in WMD-related materials, equipment and technologies” to which terrorists could gain access.