"Anti-NATO-enlargement" parliamentary movement

Written Declaration No. 259

Doc. 7866

1er July 1997

The undersigned, members of the Assembly, make the following declaration:

1.During the first six months of 1997, groups with anti-NATO leanings were set up in the parliaments of a number of European countries.

For instance, in February and March an independent group came into being within the State Duma of the Russian Federation, bringing together 257 members of the State Duma and 47 members of the Federation Council. The Duma formed an "anti-NATO" parliamentary committee with 15 members. The group and the committee include representatives of all the groups and factions in the Russian parliament, except for "Yabloko".

From April to June 1997 a parliamentary group against Ukraine's joining NATO, with over 190 members, was formed within the Ukraine parliament. Parliamentary groups with similar leanings have been or are being established in Greece, Cyprus, Latvia and other member countries of the Council of Europe.

2.On 24 April, nineteen members of the national delegations of Ukraine, Russia, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, the Czech Republic, Portugal and Armenia came together in an informal "anti-NATO-enlargement" group. In their declaration they stressed that, in forming the group, their aim was to increase the role played by parliamentarians and the European public in the search for a new system of democratic security in Europe and to devise a special action programme to that end.

During the Parliamentary Assembly's summer part-session (June 1997), the "anti-NATO-enlargement" group was joined by ten other members of Council of Europe member States' national parliaments.

3.To enhance the efficiency of the "anti-NATO-enlargement" group's work, a group co-ordinating board, made up of Assembly members from Russia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Finland, Portugal and other countries, was set up in Strasbourg on 25 June 1997.

4.Among the practical steps taken by members of the "anti-NATO-enlargement" group, mention can be made of the message addressed to NATO's Secretary General last January, proposing an end to extension of the military and political union, the collection of 13,000 signatures on a petition against the "Sea Breeze 97" manoeuvres in Eupatoria (Crimea, Ukraine), and numerous meetings with non-governmental organisations, MPs from different countries, and members of the armed forces (including trainees at the NATO college) to explain the threat to European security posed by NATO's eastward expansion. The members of the "anti-NATO-enlargement" group intend to continue their explanatory work and to take practical action, including in particular a gathering of European parliamentarians in Eupatoria at the end of August to protest against NATO's holding military manoeuvres on spa and rest sites being used by children and by the "liquidators" who dealt with the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. We invite the members of the Parliamentary Assembly to participate in this action if the manoeuvres are not cancelled.

5.The "anti-NATO-enlargement" group's co-ordinating board plans to hold a large-scale meeting of parliamentarians and non-governmental organisations supporting the movement in a Council of Europe member State on the eve of the Parliamentary Assembly's autumn part-session, with a view to co-ordinating their activities.

Signed: (1)

Christodoulides, Cyprus, UEL

Filimonov, Russia, UEL

Fyodorov, Russia, LDR

Glotov, Russia, UEL

Jirousova, Czech Republic, UEL

Marmazov, Ukraine, UEL

Melnikov, Russia, UEL

Oliynik, Ukraine, UEL

Rakhansky, Ukraine, UEL

Ryabov, Russia, UEL

Samofalov, Ukraine, SOC

Savitsky, Russia, UEL

Symonenko, Ukraine, UEL

Vishnyakov, Russia, NR

Zhebrovsky, Russia, NR

_______________

Total = 15

Note: 1 SOC : Socialist Group

EPP : Group of the European People's Party

EDG : European Democratic Group

LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers Group

UEL : Group of the Unified European Left

NR : not registered in a group