Ireland joined Sweden yesterday in unsuccessfully trying to beef up controls on EU arms exports to countries with poor human rights records.
After EU Foreign Ministers backed the first EU-wide code of conduct on the arms trade, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, said he was "very unhappy" with the agreement and had "very little confidence" in it.
He had not vetoed the code, he said, because "half a loaf is better than no bread" and the alternative was no controls at all. Ireland would continue the fight to toughen it up.
The code urges member states "to exercise particular caution" in granting licences for exports to countries where serious human rights violations had been established by UN bodies.
Mr Andrews argued that such exports should be banned altogether and, with the Swedes, had suggested that the word "restraint" be substituted for "caution", to no avail. He was not satisfied with the final shape of the code, which had been widely criticised as toothless by NGOs. "We agree with them," he said.
Ireland does not currently export any armaments, but the Swedes are substantial exporters. The code establishes a mechanism by which member states can notify each other if they have turned down arms contracts on human rights grounds.
If, however, another member state agrees to take up such a contract it must notify the country which has previously turned it down. That notification may be made public by the undercut state, a moral pressure that falls far short of the mandatory controls some would wish to see. Member states will also produce annual reports on their arms exports.
The code sets out in a collective EU framework undertakings already given by all member states not to breach UN, OSCE or EU arms embargoes or other international commitments, such as the ban on the export of anti-personnel landmines. It also prohibits sales to countries where the arms may be re-exported, where governments are supporters of international terrorism, or "where there is a clear risk that the proposed export may be used for internal repression."
Member states must take into account any threat posed by such arms supplies to the security interests of fellow EU members and will not export to countries liable to use such arms "aggressively against another country or to assert by force a territorial claim."
The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, who has made great mileage of insisting that Britain must pursue an "ethical" foreign policy, said the agreement was a "real achievement" and represents "a substantial step forward in creating a responsible and effective regulation for the European arms trade".
"Industries," he said, "will compete on price and quality but not on human rights or democratic principles." Mr Cook also denied that there would be any form of blacklist of countries.
The main opponent of greater transparency on arms exports is France, Britain's main rival at the top of the exporters' league.
Ministers agreed to a resolution pledging support to the Indonesian reform process. At the instigation of the Irish and Portuguese ministers they agreed to add a reference to the need for humanitarian assistance for East Timor.
