European Union a Key Player In International Gun Control
July 15, 2007

by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor

Some readers might wonder who or what the heck is the EU? (Pronounced Ee-You.)

Well, it’s not the kind of squeamish sound one student makes when another does something disgusting.

It’s the initials of the European Union (EU), a sui generis political body, made up of 27 member states, the majority of which are located in continental Europe.

While the EU as it exists today was established in 1993 by the Treaty on European Union (The Maastricht Treaty), it is marking its 50th anniversary this year, because it’s the successor to the six-member European Economic Community founded in 1957.

Today, the EU can be described as both a supranational and intergovernmental body. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium—like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) of which the US is a key member—it has enormous influence on global politics, international finance and public policy. And it doesn’t hesitate to use that influence, something of which all Americans, but especially gunowners, should be fully aware.

The EU would like to be the big dog in the United Nations (UN) kennel, and would like to be the driving force behind global policies, including gun control. If the UN were to abandon its international gun control initiatives, the EU would step in and continue that effort. The EU has already had an influence on the firearms policies of its member states and has even forced gun-rights friendly nations like Switzerland to adopt new regulations.

Largest Economy
Why is the EU so influential? It has the largest economy in the world with a combined nominal gross domestic product of 11.6 trillion euros ($15.7 trillion US) in 2007. When the EU currency, the euro, was first traded, it was worth about 90 cents in the US. Today, it would cost more than a $1.30 American to buy one euro.

The EU initiated a limited Common Foreign and Security Policy, and a limited Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters. It has its own flag, although member countries also retain their flags, languages, and, in some cases, currencies.

Important EU institutions and bodies include the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Council, the European Central Bank, the European Court of Justice and the European Parliament (EP). Citizens of EU member states are also EU citizens; they directly elect the European Parliament, once every five years. They can invest, live, travel, and work in other member states (with some temporary restrictions on new member states). Passport control and customs checks at most internal borders have been abolished.

As we discuss the EU, bear in mind that there are many policy think tanks, economic institutions and politicians in the US and elsewhere who are working to create a North American Union, which would initially include the US, Canada and Mexico. If this plan moves forward, it too would create a new supranational and intergovernmental body. The model already exists in the EU and some of the underpinning also exists in President Clinton’s North American Free Trade Agreement.

But let’s get back to what the EU is up to that has policy implications.

The EP’s press service reported on June 21 that the EU had adopted a joint resolution on the establishment of common international standards for the import, export and transfer of small arms and conventional weapons, calling on all 153 UN member states (nations) which voted for the UN resolution to send their submissions supporting an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to the UN Secretary General “without further delay.”

Members of the EU urged all states to emphasize in their submissions that the ATT should codify existing obligations under international law with respect to arms transfers, and especially those covering human rights and humanitarian law. In other words, a binding treaty on global gun control!

Pending the adoption of a binding ATT, the EU urged UN members to take “efficient measures to stop the irresponsible brokering and transportation of arms, ammunition and associated military and security equipment of all types, including components and dual-use items, as well as the transfer and licensing of foreign production of such equipment to parties subject to international arms embargoes or who persistently commit serious violations of international human rights law or international humanitarian law.

The members of the EP “categorically denounce trade in arms and ammunition in violation of United Nations Security Council arms embargoes and recognizes that the transport of such goods primarily takes place by air.” The EP called upon “the competent international organizations and appropriate regional organizations to recommend, in coordination with the air transport industry, appropriate preventive measures.”

Passenger Lists
A few days after the EU call for action on the arms and ammunition treaty, Reuters news service reported that the EU and the US had struck two deals designed to ensure US access to private and bank data in its war against terrorism while trying to allay European privacy concerns.

Top EU and US officials reached agreement on the transfer to the United States of private data on transatlantic air passengers, said EU officials.1

EU envoys also approved arrangements setting conditions for the US Treasury Department to consult records of the international banking network SWIFT in anti-terrorism investigations, EU diplomats said, according to Reuters.

Data privacy has been a thorn in EU-US relations since Washington stepped up anti-terrorism efforts after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. EU legislators and rights groups have criticized US methods and called for better privacy safeguards.

Reuters reported that the air passenger data deal was sealed in talks between EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini, German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff over the phone. Details of the accord must now be approved by the EU’s 27 member countries.

Under an interim agreement reached in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, European airlines must pass on up to 34 items of passenger data, including address and credit card details, before clearance to land at US airports. An EU diplomat said data would be kept for 15 years under the new arrangement.

United Nations
If you thought the UN’s attempts to reach a binding arms trade treaty had been scuttled permanently just a few months ago, think again.

On June 11, the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs reported that the UN’s Group of Governmental Experts on illicit brokering in arms and ammunition concluded its work and suggested a set of optional elements for inclusion in national legislation, and calling for consistent attention to the issue of illicit brokering in small arms at future UN meetings.

The group adopted a consensus report noting that unregulated and poorly regulated arms brokering activities may result in transactions that increase the risk that arms are diverted to conflict-prone areas and embargoed entities, as well as to organized criminal and terrorist groups. The report of the Group also contains the first agreed description of what constitutes illicit brokering in small arms, such a definition seen as fundamental to any efforts to enhance international cooperation.

And finally, the UN Security Council in late June called on all member nations to observe the arms embargoes established under its resolutions, and encouraged them to destroy surplus and obsolete small arms and light weapons.

The Security Council encouraged member states to strengthen stockpile management and to ensure that all small arms and light weapons were marked at the time of manufacture and import.

The Security Council focused, in particular, on strengthening export and border controls and to control brokering activities, and asked the secretary general to submit a biennial report, beginning in 2008, on the Program of Action.
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