Calls for a strengthening of the international system of treaties and regimes against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; stresses the need for closer cooperation between the EU and the United States in combating terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, in compliance with international law, and for both sides to support the role that the UN must play in these areas; urges the Council to discuss with its US counterparts how to make a positive approach to future NPT Preparatory Committees (NPT PrepComs), as a first opportunity to strengthen the global non-nuclear proliferation regime in the run-up to the NPT Review Conference in 2010; underlines the need to discuss at the summit a number o ...[+++]f nuclear disarmament initiatives based on the ‘13 practical steps’ agreed to unanimously in the 2000 NPT Review Conference; hopes that at this summit the US Administration will be willing to adopt a common strategy with the EU aimed at making progress on disarmament in terms of both weapons of mass destruction and conventional weaponry; calls on the EU and the United States to avoid the potential vacuum in the period 2009-2010, when the major agreements on disarmament will be due to be renewed; hopes that the very important agreements reached in 1999, 2000 and 2001 with Russia will be maintained; calls on the United States to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) as a meaningful step towards reducing the operational relevance of nuclear weapons;

17. Calls for a strengthening of the international system of treaties and regimes against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; stresses the need for closer cooperation between the EU and the United States in combating terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, in compliance with international law, and for both sides to support the role that the UN must play in these areas; urges the Council to discuss with its US counterparts how to make a positive approach to future NPT Preparatory Committees (NPT PrepComs), as a first opportunity to strengthen the global non-nuclear proliferation regime in the run-up to the NPT Review Conference in 2010; underlines the need to discuss at the summit a number o ...[+++]f nuclear disarmament initiatives based on the '13 practical steps' agreed to unanimously in the 2000 NPT Review Conference; hopes that at this summit the US Administration will be willing to adopt a common strategy with the EU aimed at making progress on disarmament in terms of both weapons of mass destruction and conventional weaponry; calls on the EU and the United States to avoid the potential vacuum in the period 2009-2010, when the major agreements on disarmament will be due to be renewed; hopes that the very important agreements reached in 1999, 2000 and 2001 with Russia will be maintained; calls on the United States to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) as a meaningful step towards reducing the operational relevance of nuclear weapons;

Is of the opinion that the 40th anniversary of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) on 1 July 2008 must be seen as an opportunity for the EU to promote the need for nuclear disarmament in its Strategy Against the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, with a view to the Preparatory Committees for the forthcoming NPT review conference; reiterates its view that this includes the need for the ‘recognised’ nuclear weapons powers to put forward disarmament initiatives, to make Europe a nuclear-weapon-free zone, and to conclude a global convention banning nuclear weapons;

7. Urges the Council Presidency to promote at the NPT PrepCom a number of disarmament initiatives based on the "Principles and Objectives for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament" agreed upon at the 1995 NPT Review Conference and the "13 Practical Steps" agreed unanimously at the Year 2000 NPT Review Conference, which must improved upon and implemented in order to make progress and to avoid regress or standstill;

11. Calls upon the EU to propose, at the NPT PrepCom meeting in 2004 and at the Review Conference in 2005, that the appropriate subsidiary body on nuclear disarmament be established by the CD without further delay;

3. Calls upon the EU and its Member States - in a spirit of "effective multilateralism" and solidarity and in pursuit of the EU strategy against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction - to form a common front at the NPT Preparatory Committee (NPT PrepCom) and the NPT Review Conference in 2005, and make a positive contribution to the discussions; urges them to attach, in their statements, special importance to new initiatives on nuclear disarmament and the revitalisation of the UN Conference on Disarmament;