The European Network Against Arms Trade sent today an Open letter to Euro-parliamentarians, urging them to vote against the proposal of EU funding for the arms industry to boost their production of ammunition ad missiles.
Read the Open letter here in English and in French
ENAAT calls on MEPs, and those members of the negotiating team in particular, not to give in to blackmail and to reject the ASAP Regulation outright:
- This text is already highly problematic in its original version and will above all contribute to the proliferation of ammunition and missiles in the world, which will only fuel conflicts.
- It undermines labour law and environmental norms normally applied to the industry, and experience of the Defence Fund pilot programmes shows that these “exceptions” rather create precedents which then tend to become the norm.
These derogations are particularly shocking when, at the same time, the industry is waging an offensive campaign to present itself as sustainable and socially beneficial so that it can divert part of the sustainable finance to its own benefit. - In view of the Member States’ position, any compromise version can only accentuate the most deleterious effects of this Regulation and transform it once and for all into unconditional subsidies for an outspoken military industry, which shamelessly uses and abuses the Russian invasion and the misfortune of the Ukrainians to defend its financial interests, with the complicity of many national governments.
- The European Parliament must seize this last opportunity to defend its independence and its role as a decision-maker, otherwise it runs the risk of definitely becoming a mere recording chamber for a European defence policy that is subservient to soverignist and industrial interests. Such a precedent can only weaken the European democratic project as a whole and deceive European citizens.