BSPCBaltic Sea Parliamentary Conference Report on Sea-Dumped Munitions for the 30th BSPC BSPCBaltic Sea Parliamentary Conference Report on Sea-Dumped Munitions for the 30th BSPC 2 Report on Sea-Dumped Munitions The Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC)was established in 1991 as a for the 30th BSPC forum for political dialogue between parliamentarians from the Baltic Sea Region. BSPC aims at raising awareness and opinion on issues of current © Berlin, Rostock, Schwerin 2021 political interest and relevance for the Baltic Sea Region. It promotes and drives various initiatives and efforts to support a sustainable environmental, Text: Peter Stein social and economic development of the Baltic Sea Region. It strives at en- Layout: produktionsbüro TINUS hancing the visibility of the Baltic Sea Region and its issues in a wider Eu- Editing: Bodo Bahr, Mathias Rinck ropean context. Photos: BSPC Secretariat BSPC gathers parliamentarians from 11 national parliaments, 11 region- al parliaments and 5 parliamentary organisations around the Baltic Sea. The BSPC thus constitutes a unique parliamentary bridge between all the EU- and non-EU countries of the Baltic Sea Region. BSPC external interfaces include parliamentary, governmental, sub-re- gional and other organizations in the Baltic Sea Region and the Northern Dimension area, among them CBSS, HELCOM, the Northern Dimension Partnership in Health and Social Well-Being (NDPHS), the Baltic Sea La- bour Forum (BSLF), the Baltic Sea States Sub-regional Cooperation (BSSSC) and the Baltic Development Forum. BSPC shall initiate and guide political activities in the region; support Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference and strengthen democratic institutions in the participating states; improve Bodo Bahr dialogue between governments, parliaments and civil society; strengthen Secretary General the common identity of the Baltic Sea Region by means of close co-opera- +49 171 5512557 tion between national and regional parliaments on the basis of equality; and [email protected] initiate and guide political activities in the Baltic Sea Region, endowing www.bspc.net them with additional democratic legitimacy and parliamentary authority. The political recommendations of the annual Parliamentary Conferences are expressed in a Conference Resolution adopted by consensus by the Con- BSPC Secretariat ference. The adopted Resolution shall be submitted to the governments of Schlossgartenallee 15 the Baltic Sea Region, the CBSS and the EU, and disseminated to other rel- 19061 Schwerin evant national, regional and local stakeholders in the Baltic Sea Region and Germany its neighbourhood. Contents 3 Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................5 2. Resolution of the 29th BSPC of 24 August 2020 – item 15 .................................6 3. Implementation of the 29th BSPC resolution in and by the states ............................7 4. Questionnaire on sea-dumped munitions in the Baltic Sea ..................................7 5. Motion in the German Bundestag .....................................................8 6. Activities at the EU level .............................................................9 6.1. Correspondence with the European Commission ......................................9 6.2. European Parliament resolution ..................................................10 7. Presentation of DAIMON 2 outcomes in September 2021. 10 8. HELCOM Ministerial Meeting on 20 October 2021 – updating the BSAP ....................11 9. Kiel Munition Clearance Week .......................................................12 10. Joint Programming Initiative Oceans – JPI Oceans ......................................13 11. Recommendations for action ........................................................14 12. Summary .......................................................................16 13. References ......................................................................17 14. Annexes ........................................................................19 14.1. Statements on item 15 of the 29th BSPC resolution ...................................19 14.1.1. Denmark. 19 14.1.2. Estonia ..............................................................19 14.1.3. German Bundestag .....................................................19 14.1.4. Hamburg. 19 14.1.5. Latvia ...............................................................20 14.1.6. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ...............................................20 14.1.7. Poland. 20 14.1.8. Schleswig-Holstein .....................................................20 14.1.9. Sweden ..............................................................22 14.2. Letter to European Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius ...............................23 14.3. Reply from European Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius .............................26 14.4. Letters from MEPs to the Commission President .....................................28 14.5. Letter from Commission President Ursula von der Leyen ...............................31 14.6. European Parliament resolution ..................................................33 14.7. Questionnaire on sea-dumped munitions in the Baltic Sea to the BSPC members ............37 14.8. Replies to the questionnaire .....................................................39 14.8.1. Poland. 39 14.8.2. Russia ...............................................................42 14.8.3. Sweden ..............................................................43 14.9. Motion of the German Bundestag ................................................45 4 1. Introduction 5 1. Introduction This report on my activities as the BSPC Rapporteur on Sea-Dumped Munitions builds on my interim report from last year and should be read as a second instalment.1 The fundamental aspects of the issue were already covered in the first instalment and are largely still current, al- though there have been new developments and findings in technologi- cal and scientific terms. With regard to the problem as described and the urgent need for action, nothing has changed. On the contrary, an- other year has gone by. This report gives me a chance to detail the latest developments and again to explicitly highlight the most crucial points. This is especially important in view of the HELCOM Ministerial Meet- Peter Stein ing to be held in Lübeck, Germany, on 20 October 2021. Almost all of the time since my November 2019 election as Rapporteur on Sea-Dumped Munitions has been coloured by the COVID19 pan- demic. In the end, international contact with experts across the Baltic Sea region could not be conducted in the way I would have preferred. Thanks to digital meetings, telephone calls and written communica- tions, however, it was nevertheless possible to maintain regular and in part very intensive dialogue with various experts from the spheres of sci- ence and research, associations, politics and public administration, and business and industry. I can attest that many specialists working in science and research, in the Baltic Sea region and beyond, enjoy an outstanding network of ties to one another. There is a munitions community spanning multiple coun- tries and sectors, in which people have come to know one another and share a common goal. I must also attest, however, that the scientific findings which have been accumulating rapidly in recent years, the lat- est technological developments and the rising urgency have not yet been successfully embedded on the political agenda in a sustained and com- prehensive manner. The reasons for this are manifold. They lie not in a lack of effort on the part of scientists and associations but in the need to make the knowledge that exists among specialists accessible to a wider audience. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those play- ers who have generously deployed their expertise to support me and willingly shared information with me over the last two years. My sincere thanks also go to our Secretary General, Bodo Bahr, who gave me all manner of help and advice and so made my reporting job considerably easier. 1 https://www.bspc.net/bspc_interim-report-on-sea-dumped-munitions-for-the-29th-bspc/ 6 2. Resolution of the 29th BSPC of 24 August 2020 – item 15 | 3. Implementation of the 29th BSPC resolution in and by the states As a BSPC member and Rapporteur and as a Member of the German Bundestag, I have always understood it as part of my job in the area of legacy munitions to raise awareness of the urgency with which hazardous remnants of war need to be salvaged and neutralised. To judge by current developments, this seems to have been achieved, with greater attention being paid to the issue in the political sphere. Without a doubt, the resolutions we unanimously agreed at the 28th and 29th BSPCs and the interim report played a role in that success. As members of the BSPC, we should see it as our joint achievement. With the completion of the present report, I consider my task as Rapporteur fulfilled for now – but the job itself remains to be done, and it needs to be done in the 20 years that lie ahead. I look forward to tackling it alongside you all. Peter Stein 2. Resolution of the 29th BSPC of 24 August 2020 – item 15 The 29th annual BSPC was held in a digital format on 24 August 2020. The participants, elected and second- ed representatives of the states in the Baltic Sea region, unanimously agreed a resolution which, in item 15, con- tains a call relating to legacy munitions in the Baltic Sea and