QCEA: The Future of Europe: Spiritual Values and Citizenship

Heike Schneider [Director, European Peace-Building Liaison Office (EPLO)] presented a paper: ‘How can we enhance the conflict prevention capacity of the European Union?’ Published by EPLO, it arose from a discussion between different organisations including ‘Saferworld’.

Our working group noted that whilst the views of the Quaker Council for European Affairs had been taken into account in the writing of the report, Quakers could not agree with all of it. This short report therefore attempts to record the issues and questions which were most significant and important to those present in our working group. In doing so, there was some crossover with the report as it was presented, but many of the points raised we felt were more far-reaching.

There were two parts to our discussion:

1.US / EU Foreign Policy and Security
2.Conflict Prevention

Our goal was to create a consensus and raise future questions which would would find itself represented in the report ‘A Quaker View of Europe’ which is due to appear in January. Our questions and points of discussion included the following:

1. US / EU Foreign Policy and Security

Q Do we need/want a unified or joint ‘security’ policy for all EU Nations?

A The feeling was that in the long-term, we think this would be a good idea, but of course, only if it were based on the principle of conflict prevention and avoids the use of force and military strikes.

In the short-term, and especially as far as the current situation with Iraq is concerned, we noted that as things stand, it seems to be dissension amongst European States which is holding us back from the brink of war. France’s position we thought, was preventing a ‘yes’ to military action. We acknowledged at the same time that its position, like that of the United States, was based on a ‘vested interest’ – namely access to oil.

We concluded therefore that the need for transparency in the activities of member states of the EU was more important than ever.

Q Do we need/want a single seat on the security council [of the United Nations]?

A This is a suggestion which has been proposed, and a difficult one to answer. It points to a larger debate about why Britain for example should have so much power on the security council. We reached no ultimate conclusions on this.

Three remaining questions which the group raised, but ultimately felt unable to answer within the confines of this work group were the following:

Q US/Foreign Policies: How could we ensure that US policies are made more accountable, given that only 1/3 of the United States population is in favour of war?

Q Could the European Parliament endorse/support war?

Q With the enlargement of Europe, can we expect a helpful, economic, military or political balance to the United States?

2. Conflict Prevention

We felt that as an overriding principle, ‘Conflict Prevention’ ought to be embedded in all EU policies. (We drew a parallel with the Precautionary Principle, which appears in the International North Sea agreements).

It should be embedded in all types of agreement including human rights agreements, co-operative agreements and the pre-amble to the EU Treaty.

We found national and international examples of what this might look like.

1. The Lome agreement Article 11
2. On a local level, Councils such as Southampton, now have a ‘rapid response conflict prevention team’ whereby when a dispute between neighbours arises; a mediation team is sent in to assist within five working days with the necessary resources and expertise.

In summary, Conflict Prevention should be BEST PRACTICE in the EU instead of ‘re-inventing’ the wheel; the EU should seek and follow BEST PRACTICE conflict resolution wherever it occurs in Europe.

Conflict Prevention as a whole should be:

- Better Funded

- Better publicised

- There should be more education on the issues for Europe’s population and the world.

The workgroup noted that throughout the conference, we had acknowledged the ‘dynamic’ and constantly changing nature of the European Union, particularly with regard to policy making and utilisation of research material and consultation as a basis for policy making.

We felt that for all the issues dealt with in the Working Group, the role of research to develop and back up forward looking policies should be promoted, especially when it came to developing a Europe with alternatives to armed conflict.

We also needed:

Accurate media and news reporting

A propaganda watch for Quakers

Transparency about sources of information and independent research.

On the whole, we should note that rewards are better than punishment and that we should ‘isolate the regime’ but ‘talk to the people’ particular as far as the current situation and the US is concerned. The need and urgency to sustain a dialogue and exchange about peace-making initiatives with US Quakers was stressed.

We acknowledged that a structured approach to short, medium and long-term issues was needed, and attempted to group our remaining suggestions like this:

Short-term:

- We proposed a strengthening of the EU arms register (as far as we were aware, the British one covers arms brokering but not licensing for oversees manufacturing).

- Tightened regulations for small arms control (Kofi Annan has said that these, because of their widespread nature and number are ‘the real weapons of mass destruction’.

We need to recognise in our policy proposals and statements that trade in atomic, biological and chemical weapons, as well as small arms, like the drugs trade, is currently carried out legally and illegally, and in fact is out of control.

Medium Term:

Following the Decommissioning of Nuclear Plants the EU needs to develop plans to:

- Decommission unexploded ordnances (on land and in the sea)

- Sign up to landmines treaties

Ensure the swift and safe decommissioning of chemical and other types of weapons (see Spiegel this week)

Similarly, we need a plan to prepare ourselves to get rid of compulsory military service, (the German greens are calling for this as they consider it wasteful and a drain on resources which could be better used elsewhere).

Long Term:

To balance out the US concern about ‘crisis’ management, we would like to recall the following as a solution.

- The Movement for the Abolition of War in Britain, founded by many peace activists, including Bruce Kent, has a web-site and is holding many lectures and initiatives.

- We need to refocus attention on the Hague Peace Agreements and link these to the development of European policies.

As an overriding principle we need respect for human rights.

We need the complete demilitarisation of the economy, maintaining of alternative ways of making a living, ultimately building on the research and activities in the field of conversion, and taking these into the future with research, action and policy changes.

We also mentioned that Quakers should raise awareness of the environmental damage caused by Star Wars and Cluster Bombs.

Rapporteur: Frances Laing

Conference materials also available:

Conference Report and Conclusions

Keynote speech by Michael Lake

Reports of working groups:

Democratic and spiritual values: the governance of an enlarged Europe

External relations: focus on development and trade

Supporting the citizen: rights, responsibilities and social policy

Return to top of page

Further Information on The Future of Europe

• Briefing Papers on the Constitutional Treaty and Referenda