Letter to EU leaders: Stop the planned destruction of Syria's chemical weapons in the Mediterranean Sea

Published on Friday, 04 April 2014 21:26

Alexis Tsipras, President of SYRIZA and candidate of the European Left for Presidency of the European Commission, demanded that the operation for the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons slated to take place in the Mediterranean be stopped immediately.

In a letter to the President of the European Commission, Mr. J. Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Parliament, Mr. Martin Schulz, the President of the European Council, Mr. H. Van Rompuy and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Ms. Catherine Ashton, Tsipras documented his concerns and those of his Party regarding the planned destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons. Tsipras highlighted the lack of transparency due to classification as a “military” operation, the numerous E.U. policies that would be violated, and the many known and unknown environmental risks.

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To:

--The President of the European Commission, Mr. J. Manuel Barroso

--The President of the European Parliament, Mr. Martin Schulz

--To the President of the European Council, Mr. H. Van Rompuy

--To theHigh Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Ms. CatherineAshton

With this letter I wish to express my intense concern regarding the exceedingly serious matter of the imminent destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons in international waters, within the sea region of the Mediterranean.

This operation is being without transparency, due to the classification as “military”, and is coordinated by the UN and overseen by the Executive Council of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction. The absence of any official information by the U.N. and the OPCW about the exact location and methods that will be used has created enormous apprehension regarding the consequences to the greater Mediterranean Sea region. This operation, in the event of any failure or unanticipated factor, runs the risk of turning our physical neighborhood into a dumping ground for dangerous, toxic waste, according to the scientific community, which has expressed serious reservations about the scientific credibility of the listed methods.

Because of the enormity of the risk involved in the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons in the Mediterranean, to Public Health, the marine ecosystem, fishing, tourism, and an array of productive activities across the entire Mediterranean and its surrounding regions, any guarantees given thus far, are inadequate.

Because we, as the European Left Party, have programmatically expressed the stand that the UN has to have a peacekeeping role, acting as a democratic body, which will guarantee world peace and promote multilateral elimination of mass destruction weapons, including chemical weapons.

Because this past February 17^th the European Union awarded a contract for 12 million Euros to the OPCW in order to finance the destruction of Syria’s chemical arsenal,

Because the operation of the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons in the Mediterranean violates a number of E.U. policies, such as:

· The agreement for the protection of the Mediterranean from pollution, subsequently called Convention for the Protection Of The Mediterranean Sea Against Pollution (Barcelona Agreement), concluded by the Council on behalf of the European Community by the 77/585 and 1999/802/EC decisions.

· The Protocol on Integrated Coastal Zone Management in the Mediterranean to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean as adopted by the Council of the European Union on 13/9/2010.

· Articles 191 and 192, paragraph 5, of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which states, “Union policy on the environment shall contribute to pursuit of the … objectives [of] preserving, protecting and improving the quality of the environment, protecting human health, prudent and rational utilisation of natural resources, promoting measures at international level to deal with regional or worldwide environmental problems” based on and influenced by “the principle that the polluter should pay.”

· The whole of the Integrated Maritime Policy of the E.U.

· The E.U. Maritime Policy that is included in all of the priorities of the Greek (Hellenic) Presidency. Furthermore, the Greek Presidency and the upcoming Italian presidency, have both named 2014 as the ‘Year of the Mediterranean’, according to the official web site of the former.

· The European Commission issued an Announcement on February 20^th of its new Strategy for sustaining coastal and maritime tourism. The Announcement will be formally made during the High Level Conference on Coastal and Maritime Tourism in Athens, under the auspices of the Greek Presidency.

· The Announcement by the E.U. regarding the “E.U. Strategy in the Adriatic and the Ionian sea” in June of 2014, at the end of the Greek presidency of the E.U., and its subsequent adoption by the Council of Ministers, in the Autumn of 2014, during the Italian presidency of the E.U.

I call upon the European Commission to undertake all necessary initiatives in order to:

- Cancel the destruction of the chemical weapons of Syria in the Mediterranean

- Revoke E.U. financing for the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons if it is conducted in the Mediterranean

-Exert pressure on the U.N. with the purpose of declassifying this operation from a military one to a PEACEFUL OPERATION for the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons, outside the boundaries of the Mediterranean and under procedures that are fully transparent.

- Support the necessary procedures for the determination of the E.E.Z. of the Mediterranean countries.

Respectfully,

Alexis Tsipras

President of SYRIZA

European Left Party Candidate for the European Commission Presidency