The European Union is contributing more than €2 million to fund OPCW disarmament and assistance activities for the period from June 2012 to June 2014. It is the fifth consecutive time since 2004 that the EU Council has adopted a decision in support of the OPCW.
For the purpose of implementing the Council’s decision, a Contribution Agreement was signed recently under which the European Commission contributes €2.14 million to OPCW programmes and activities. As with the four previous voluntary contributions, the new agreement is set in the framework of the EU Strategy against Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, adopted on 12 December 2003, which underlines the crucial role of the Chemical Weapons Convention and of the OPCW in creating a world free of chemical weapons.
EU Council Decision 2012 supports a 24-month programme that includes a wide range of activities: promotion of universal adherence to the Convention, full and effective implementation of the Convention by all States Parties, international cooperation for the peaceful uses of chemistry, monitoring advances in science and technology relevant to the Convention, and preparedness of States Parties to prevent and respond to attacks involving chemicals.
The “Programme for Africa”, a unique feature initiated under EU Council Decision 2009, is continued in the new decision to address the specific needs of African countries in implementing the Convention.
The total EU contribution to the OPCW for the period 2004 to 2012, encompassing the combined budgets for the first three Joint Actions and of two Council Decisions , aggregates to € 9.5 millions, covering beneficiaries in five different regions and addressing both States Parties and States not Party to the OPCW.
The achievements of the EU-OPCW partnership as well as the opportunities that it presents for all States Parties were highlighted in an event at the OPCW headquarters on 12 July, in the presence of OPCW Director General Ahmet Üzümcü, the Ambassador of Cyprus Kyriacós P. Kouros on behalf of the current Presidency of the Council of the EU, and Clara Ganslandt on behalf of the European External Action Service.