EU-Made Arms Ending Up With Terrorists Matter For Probe Only At National Level - Lawmaker

A probe into EU arms exports ending up in the hands of terrorist groups should be investigated at a national level, and the European Union should play no role in tackling this issue of "sovereign national policy," Jean-Luc Schaffhauser, a member of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs and Subcommittee on Security and Defense, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th November, 2018) A probe into EU arms exports ending up in the hands of terrorist groups should be investigated at a national level, and the European Union should play no role in tackling this issue of "sovereign national policy," Jean-Luc Schaffhauser, a member of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs and Subcommittee on Security and Defense, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the European Parliament will vote on a draft report on arms exports, which suggests launching an investigation into how EU-made weapons end up in the possession of terrorists in the middle East. The document, presented by a European Parliament member from Germany, Sabine Loesing, said in particular that it was "shocked at the amount of EU-made weapons and ammunition found in the hands of [the Islamic State terrorist organization [IS, outlawed in Russia] in Syria and Iraq."

"If EU-made weapons have ended up in the hands of jihadists in Syria or elsewhere, this is a matter for political investigation at the national level, especially if the suspicion is that the arms were deliberately provided to them," Schaffhauser of the French National Rally (RN) party said.

Schaffhauser expressed belief that the European Union should have no say in arms export controls or any other issue concerning the use of force, since these areas are "exclusively a matter of sovereign national policy."

"The European Union should have no role whatever in arms control. Instead there are international conventions such as the UN Arms Trade Treaty of 2013 which limits arms exports to recognized states and which all EU members have ratified individually," the lawmaker stressed.

He called the proposed report idealistic and pacifist, noting that he would be voting against it.

The lawmaker questioned the feasibility of the proposal to make it obligatory for EU member nations to "deny an export license if there is a clear risk that the military technology or equipment might be diverted." According to Schaffhauser, such risks are "extremely difficult to assess," and the measure itself is "probably impossible to enforce."

The arms exports report comes amid Syrian media reports about the country's armed forces regularly discovering large stocks of West-made arms, munitions, and military equipment during operations in the regions liberated from terrorists.