Mobilising against the US missile defence system in Europe

NELF Statement:

The participants of the 33rd NELF meeting, held in Larnaka, Cyprus on the 13th and 14th of June 2008, call for action to mobilize against the planned US missile defence system in Europe. It is of great importance that we prevent the fusion of NATO’s regional missile defence with the global US missile defence system. This is an achievable goal, which will make a substantial impact on the world military spending and the future of nuclear disarmament. 

At the next NATO top-summit in 2009, the member countries may decide to connect NATO’s short and medium-range missile defence with the US missile shield. This would lead to increased American strategic control over Europe, and it would open for NATO countries to contribute financially to the global US missile defence system.

The US missile shield is not a solution to the conflicts with countries like Iran and North Korea. Such missile systems will only increase the gap between the western countries and the Middle East. Instead of a missile shield the world needs dialogue, cooperation and nuclear and conventional disarmament.

We also mobilize against the US missile shield in solidarity with the growing popular resistance against this system in Poland and the Czech Republic. Placing the interceptor missiles in Poland and radar facilities in the Czech Republic is a provocation towards Russia, and brings us all more uncertainty through a new and intensified global arms race.

The European people will not accept the return to the logic of the Cold War!

Establishing the US missile shield in Europe will not lead to more security. On the contrary, it will destabilize the relations between NATO countries and Russia and China. As Russia fears that the missiles located in Eastern Europe could be used against them, the missile shield will set back the work for non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament, and consequently weaken global security.

The US missile shield is Pentagon’s biggest and most expensive research and development project and has so far cost more than 120 billion USD. The billions of dollars spent on developing this missile defence system is a senseless waste of resources that should have been used to prevent conflicts and encourage peaceful resolutions of disputes.

We therefore call upon all member parties of NELF, together with civil society, to rally against the US missile shield in Europe towards the NATO 60th meeting in 2009.