The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and of missiles constitutes one of the main threats to international peace and security. Its worrying growth calls for more determined action from Europeans to combat it. The aim of the seminar "The European Union and the fight against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems - Are there new ways of strengthening European action?" on 15 and 16 July, bringing together the EU Member States and the European institutions, will be to examine the new challenges from proliferation, to evaluate the potential of current European instruments to respond to them and to identify ways of improving these. The directions for action by the European Union will then be debated and fleshed out in the form of operational round table sessions focusing on new methods of prevention, on ways of hindering, countering and suppressing proliferation, and on the fight against its funding.
The actions of France and the European Union in the fight against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems fall within the framework established by the European strategy against the proliferation of WMD adopted in 2003. This focuses mainly on actions to support the regime of international treaties and organisations in the field of WMD and the prevention of proliferation.
However, since this was adopted, the international background to the issue of proliferation has been marked by a number of critical developments (crises in Iran and North Korea, the risk from unconventional terrorism, the development of non-governmental networks, etc.). Resolution 1540, adopted unanimously by the Security Council in 2004 and reinforced by Resolution 1810 in 2008, now describes the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems as a "threat to international peace and security", and obliges governments to seek not only preventive measures but also strategies to actively combat the proliferation networks, so as to hinder the actual flows of weapons. The seminar on 15 and 16 July will enable us to identify and define the new challenges posed by this threat, to evaluate the potential of European instruments to respond to them and to identify ways of improving these. The directions for action by the European Union will then be debated and fleshed out in the course of three half-days of work, in the form of operational round table sessions focusing on new methods of prevention, on ways of hindering, countering and suppressing proliferation, and on the fight against its funding.
