Brussels, 26/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 23 April, the 27 EU member states said that the draft European Commission action plan to implement the Stockholm Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Programme did not match the European Council's aims. On Tuesday 20 April 2010, the Commission published its action plan for 2010-2014 to boost the safety of individuals and the protection of data, and to preserve the rights of arrested individuals and increase cooperation in the domains of immigration and asylum (see EUROPE 10122). The action plan follows on from the adoption of the EU27 heads of state in December 2009 of the Stockholm Programme to set up a genuine area of freedom, security and justice in the EU within five years. At the JHA Council on 23 April, however, many delegations, like the United Kingdom, said that the European Commission's action plan was too dissimilar from the Stockholm Programme. British security minster Lord West said the UK had real concerns about the action plan because it does not match the Stockholm Programme. He mentioned a number of discrepancies between the action plan and the Stockholm Programme, regretting the mention in the action plan of a mutual recognition mechanism for asylum decisions, the omission of measures on restricting abuse of free circulation and the lack of any mention of a strategy to tackle organised crime. Most delegations believe the action plan should acutely reflect the Stockholm Programme. The Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and Sweden said there should be greater attention paid to the eastern dimension when it comes to immigration in order to strike a geographical balance with action carried out in southern Europe. On justice issues, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic and Malta are not happy about the European Commission's future proposals to set up a European prosecutor. Responding to this criticism, EU Internal Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said that she did not have any illusions and the negotiations would be tough. She said she was planning to address the problems one at a time and was focussing on what had been said in December but not sticking to every single comma because of the European Commission's right of initiative. Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said that the Commission was trying to find better options and would have the opportunity to return to each issue when draft new legislation is published. The Spanish Presidency hopes the action plan can be endorsed by the Council of Ministers early in June 2010. (B.C./transl.fl)