BELGIAN MP TO PROPOSE LAW BANNING NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Reference id aka Wikileaks id #218824  ? 
Subject Belgian Mp To Propose Law Banning Nuclear Weapons From Belgian Soil
Origin Embassy Brussels (Belgium)
Cable time Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:37 UTC
Classification SECRET
Source http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/07/09BRUSSELS1044.html
Referenced by 09BRUSSELS1248, 10BRUSSELS203
History First published on Thu, 1 Sep 2011 23:24 UTC
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S E C R E T BRUSSELS 001044

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/WE, EUR/RPM, ISN/WMDT:TLOWE AND PM
SECDEF FOR OSD/EUR:AWINTERNITZ

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/30/2019
TAGS: MNUC [Military Nuclear Applications], MARR [Military and Defense Arrangements], PREL [External Political Relations], BE [Belgium]
SUBJECT: BELGIAN MP TO PROPOSE LAW BANNING NUCLEAR WEAPONS 
FROM BELGIAN SOIL 

Classified By: Acting Political Economic Counselor Robert Kiene, reason
 1.4 (b) and (f).

(C) Summary: A Belgian francophone Socialist Member of the
House of Representatives, Philippe Mahoux, has announced that
he will introduce a bill in the Belgian House banning all
nuclear weapons from the territory of Belgium when Parliament
reconvenes in September.  Similar bills and resolutions have
been proposed in the past and have failed to gain significant
support in Parliament.  Mahoux's bill is not expected to
result in legislation, but it will likely spark a public
debate about the desirability of nuclear weapons.  The
Belgian government prefers not to approach the issue of
disarmament unilaterally but in the context of NATO, the NPT
and bilateral discussions between Russia and the United
States.  End summary.

(S) The exact text of Mahoux's proposed bill is not yet
prepared, but it will likely prohibit the manufacture,
repair, display, sale, transport and storage on Belgian
territory of nuclear arms.  The language is similar to 
existing Belgian law that prohibits chemical weapons, 
anti-personnel mines, cluster weapons and depleted uranium 
weapons.  Previous efforts by Mahoux and other pacifist
members of Parliament to pass legislation or resolutions on
nuclear weapons have disappeared quietly without receiving a 
floor vote.  This legislation is most likely to meet the same
fate.  NATO, the U.S. and Belgium do not confirm or deny the
presence of nuclear weapons at the Belgian air base in Kleine
Brogel in Eastern Belgium.  Mahoux's bill is clearly intended
at a minimum to influence Belgian policy regarding activities
at that base and disarmament generally at a time when
international discussions on nuclear disarmament are
beginning to gain steam.  Mahoux announced his intentions
just as the slow vacation period is beginning in Belgium.  He
is both trying to get a jump on his fellow legislators on the
issue and to take advantage of a slow time in the news cycle.
 One Japanese newspaper noticed Mahoux's announcement and
seized on it as a perceived bellwether of more forceful
international efforts toward disarmament.

(U) Mahoux received a quick public response from Armand De
Decker, President of the Belgian Senate.  Although he
speculated that there are no arms at Kleine Brogel, he stated
that nuclear arms are essential to the defense of Europe.  He
pointed most directly at the risks of a potentially nuclear
armed Pakistan.  De Decker sees no reason for Belgium to
renounce a nuclear mission when for sixty years the country
has been solidly behind all NATO missions, including the
nuclear mission.  He was also content that France has a
nuclear force adequate to deter an attack not only against
France but Belgium, and would not object to nuclear arms on
Belgian soil as a complement to that defense.  "The goal
being, in time, to create an integrated European army."

(C) Poloff discussed the Mahoux initiative with Vincent
Mertens De Wilmars, Diplomatic Advisor to Minister of Defense
De Crem and with the MFA's Director for Security Policy, Pol
De Witte.  Both officials are convinced that Mahoux's
individual initiative will never become law.  However, they
do expect it to become a topic of discussion and debate in
the fall.  Mertens said that "the government will be ready to 
meet it" and will find ways to ensure it becomes bogged down 
in procedures and ultimately fails.  Mertens also said that
an information note on upcoming disarmament issues in the EU,
the NPT review and bilateral Russian-American dialogue.  The
main reason the GOB opposes the Mahoux bill is that it does
not want Belgium to take unilateral steps but rather to
approach disarmament in coordination with the international
community, and make decisions in common, in the various
international fora where discussions are taking place.  De
Witte fully agreed with Mertens view that Mahoux's bill has
no future and that the GOB believes it is not right to
approach disarmament issues unilaterally.  However, he
expects the government to have to respond publicly to
Mahoux's initiative, and to take a more cautious than direct
approach to opposing it, given widespread sympathy for
Mahoux's views.  The government may seek various amendments
to buy time until it can find a way to quietly dispose of the
bill.

(S) If international debate on disarmament is more active in
the fall, Mahoux's bill may in that context spark more
interest and comment, although not to the extent that it
would gain a serious chance of passage.  The USG and the 
Belgian MOD are just beginning a discussion of procedures for 
dealing with nuclear weapon accidents and incidents.  These
discussions are as low key as possible with due regard for
the sensitivity of the subject matter.  Given the early stage
of these discussions, it is probable that the debate on
Mahoux's bill will have been over for quite some time before
they are close to a conclusion.

BUSH