Brussels, 09/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - Speaking on behalf of the Greens, Angelika Beer criticised the approval given on 6 September in Vienna by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to the agreement on civil atomic cooperation between India and the USA, signed in 2005. After the stalled initial talks in August this year, the 45 members of the NSG, an informal group that controls the export and sale of nuclear and nuclear-related exports in the world, approved a controversial agreement that will allow India to develop its own civil nuclear programme. Endorsed by the international community, the agreement, which opens the door to American and French manufacturers of nuclear reactors on a market worth tens of billions of dollars, offers India unlimited access to global reserves of atomic fuel. India, on the other hand, would have to place 14 of its 22 existing nuclear reactors under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as well the 20-25 future power stations foreseen in the run up to 2040. Furthermore, the agreement lifts the 34-year old embargo on nuclear trade with India, imposed after New Delhi had, without warning, carried out a civil atomic test in 1974. Created after this incident, the NSG was unable to prevent India from proclaiming itself an atomic power in 1998, at the same time as Pakistan. The NSG describes itself as a “group of nuclear supplier countries which seeks to contribute to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons through the implementation of guidelines for nuclear exports and nuclear related exports”. “The NSG's green light on the US-India deal is (…) a slap in the face of countries that have respected the rules of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. It is also a signal to other countries that it pays to brandish a nuclear threat. The doors for an arms race are now wide open. Iran will understand this message. (…). Just one veto in the NSG would have been enough to stop the deal [Ed.: India's agreement to a moratorium on nuclear trials ended up overcoming the reticence of Austria, Ireland and New Zealand]. Even Germany as chair of the group failed in its responsibilities. Germany Foreign Minister Steinmeier's announcement in favour of disarmament policies was apparently not worth the paper it was written on. Work must begin immediately to restore the international community's faith in disarmament”, stresses Angelika Beer, German Green MEP, Coordinator on Foreign Policy. (E.H./transl.jl)