09/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - During “open questions” at the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg, the Belgian secretary of state for European affairs, Olivier Chastel, took the floor on Wednesday 8 September on behalf of Catherine Ashton to clarify the EU's policy on the control of arms exports at regional and international level. “The aim is clear. We want to prevent export of military technologies that could contribute to regional instability or that could be used for undesirable ends, such as internal repression or international aggression”, he said. Any member state that gives its arms industry authorisation to carry out a transaction refused by another member state must justify that decision before all member states, Chastel said. Furthermore, consultation procedure is systematically launched as soon as a transaction has been refused. “In the course of 2009, these consultations concerned 14 third countries”, Olivier Chastel pointed out. (H.B./transl.jl)