France floats EU plan on nuclear weapons cuts

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
French President Nicolas Sarkozy presented an ambitious European plan Monday to the United Nations to revive global nuclear disarmament efforts. Sarkozy, in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said the EU wants a global ban on nuclear tests, a moratorium on production of fissile material and a treaty banning on ground-to-ground short- and medium-range missiles. "We are convinced of the necessity to work for general disarmament," said Sarkozy, whose country is one of the few world nuclear powers and currently holds the rotating EU presidency. "Europe has already done a lot for disarmament," Sarkozy said. "Europe is ready to do more." The EU measure is aimed at reviving nuclear disarmament efforts that have lagged since the end of the Cold War, even as new nuclear powers have emerged.