A new paper on the further development of the EU common position on arms exports, prepared by SIPRI experts for the European Parliament Sub-Committee on Security and Defence (SEDE), has been published online.
The paper, ‘The further development of the Common Position 2008/944/CFSP on arms export control’, can be accessed here.
The paper is the outcome of a workshop for SEDE held on 19 June 2018 where Dr Sibylle Bauer, Director of the SIPRI Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Programme and Giovanna Maletta, Research Assistant in the SIPRI Dual-Use and Arms Trade Control Programme were the main speakers.
During the workshop, Bauer and Maletta provided an overview of the context in which the upcoming review of the Common Position is taking place and a list of the possible outcomes for this process.
As part of the presentation, the SIPRI experts highlighted the divergences in member states’ export policies which have emerged in the last decade and provided a number of options that could be taken into consideration during the 2018 review. This included adjustments to the language of the criteria and the User’s Guide that accompanies the EU Common Position, improving the quality of reporting, and increasing the coherence and coordination of the EU’s broader export control regime.
A video recording of the workshop is available on the European Parliament webpage here.
Read more about the dual-use and arms trade control programme's work on arms export controls.