Profits for European corporations or peace for crisis areas? European weapons are still being used to fuel conflicts in crisis areas. Journalist Monica Pinna pursues the question: “Are European weapons fuelling wars and conflicts around the world?” in her documentary – and has interviewed me for it.

The European Union has a common, legally binding position on arms exports. The common position lists eight criteria that member states must apply when deciding whether to grant licences for the export of arms. However, the enforcement of these criteria leaves much to be desired. Since it is the member states that decide what types of licences they issue for arms exports, there are 27 national interpretations and 27 national export systems. Member states’ systems vary widely, which has led to many problems recently. As I make clear in the Euronews documentary, there are too many loopholes. This leads to weapons from the European Union ending up in war zones. We must put a political stop to this! I, therefore, call for an end to the chaos of responsibilities that leads to the enrichment of European arms corporations. For example, it must no longer be possible for governments to evade responsibility by referring to other member states.

We Greens/EFA have been calling for more transparency in EU arms exports and comprehensive control rights for the European Parliament for some time. Watch this short video to find out how this can be effectively implemented.