Five ways to make the European Peace Facility a role model for arms export control

Abstract

All European Peace Facility (EPF)-funded transfers of arms and other military equipment should be transparent and well justified. The European Union should issue a biannual public report about all EPF-funded arms transfers, including information on the type, number, condition and effective end-user of the arms. In addition, the reports should include a detailed explanation of the reasons for each transfer. To reduce the risk of diversion, the European Union should introduce post-shipment controls for arms and military equipment that were funded via the EPF. End-use certificates for such transfers should include the permission for officials from the European Union, e.g. from the European External Action Service, or EU member states, to conduct such on-the-spot checks. Transfers of EPF-funded arms and other military equipment should be tied to a compulsory evaluation of the existing structures of weapons and ammunition management (WAM). Depending on the results of this evaluation, the European Union should assist the recipient country with EPF-funded WAM assistance programmes, which build on initiatives that already work closely together with the relevant local actors. The European Parliament should be involved in discussing the use of the EPF to fund arms transfers to avoid democratic legitimacy problems and improve the accountability of such transfers. People living in the countries that receive arms from Europe are most affected by decisions made by the EPF. To ensure that the European Union remains accountable for their decisions and cases of misuse, it should establish a mechanism for affected civilians in recipient countries to report complaints and grievances resulting from European arms transfers.