European control of armaments exports is a farce!

In view of the STP, the planned sale of 100 "Leopard" battle tanks to Indonesia is putting the future of Europe's arms export controls at risk. "The common armament export controls are a farce if the Netherlands refuse to deliver arms because of human rights considerations – while Germany sees no problem in the export transaction," said the STP's Asia consultant, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen on Thursday. "A German solo effort would violate the spirit of European arms export controls and affirm fears that human rights are still ignored in German arms export activities."

During this weeks visit of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono confirmed that his country would like to purchase 100 "Leopard" 2A6 battle tanks from former Bundeswehr stocks. Last week, the Indonesian deputy defense minister had declared that his country had quit negotiations with the Netherlands about a similar tank-export. Earlier, on June 21, 2012, a large majority of Dutch MPs had opted against exporting the "Leopard" battle tanks to Indonesia. The rejection was based on the unsatisfactory human rights situation in the south-east Asian country.

"It would be an indictment of the European security policy, foreign policy and industrial policy if Europe's arms export controls were jeopardized this carelessly," said Delius. The unification of regulations for arms exports was especially conceived to prevent the European nations to be played off against each other in arms exports. The European defense industry – which fears further restrictions of arms exports according to EU-wide standards – would be the lucky winner.