A conflict between Commission and Council? According to Viviane Reding, the European Commission action plan for the gradual setting up of the European Freedom, Security and Justice Area is just as important as the previous implementation of the single market. According to the Council, the Commission's draft is out of kilter with the vision of the heads of state and government.
Conflicting views? It is important not to dramatise things because the differences between the Commission and the Council form part of Community dialectics, and the European Parliament also has its word to say. We should not, however, minimise the disagreement, which became manifest last week at the Justice and Internal Affairs Council (EUROPE 10126), because it signifies that the Commission considers that Community action must incorporate all of the different areas targeted, whereas most member states are cautious, indeed reticent, in giving up their national autonomy in the different sectors where interests, traditions and orientations vary from one country to the next. What should be done together? To what extent must the rules become European?
This is not a purely legal matter. We only need glance at the list of projects covered by this “action plan” (listed in EUROPE 10122) to understand the political magnitude of the matter: solidarity in immigration issues; processing asylum requests; agreements with the US on data processing; cross-border recognition of legal decisions; promotion of online trade, and so on and so forth. It is the citizen's way of life that is at stake and we only have to look at the Swift affair to understand to what point external relations are also affected.
Ms Reding speaks. The vice president of the Commission (in an interview with the Belgian newspaper Le Soir) spoke with her habitual clarity and frankness when she underlined that now it is the Lisbon Treaty which applies to Commission proposals and Parliament/Council co-decision. Previously, “the Parliament had zero presence, the European Court of Justice did not have the right to intervene, and if member states agreed on a decision, it was always watered down, with some of them applying it and others not”. Citizens are affected both in their private lives and in the economic sphere: “What should be done to protect a citizen who wants to study, marry, or get divorced etc in another member state? How are companies going to recover money which is owed to them in another country? Today, 60% of debt is not recovered! We are working on a European commercial code - the 28th system of contractual law, in addition to the 27 national systems, left to the choice of the contractual parties”. And what did she say about the question of immigration and asylum? “The EU must protect its external borders but member states must do this in the same way, whilst taking into account the Charter of Fundamental Rights … which is no mean thing - they are not often applied because they are not applicable”. Have we never tried to do anything seriously? Of course we have, but with the rotating presidency of the Council, each presidency focused on the aspect it found interesting without making any link with the rest of the agenda. With the new procedures and permanent presidency of the European Council, a real programme is possible.
Commission confirms its action plan. On 11 December last, the European Council adopted the Stockholm Programme, which outlines the main orientations for 2010-2014. This programme aims to create a “freedom, security and justice area”, which will allow European citizens to exercise their rights throughout the Union and strengthen cooperation between member states in the fight against organised crime, terrorism and other threats. The action plan presented by the Commission aims to put the orientations of the summit into practice. According to the Council, it goes beyond these aims and is too detailed.
The commissioner for internal affairs, Cecilia Malmström, explained that the plan incorporates the Council's orientations but also takes into account the Commission's right of initiative. Ms Reding made it quite clear that the plan will not be modified because the legislative power (Council and Parliament) will be able to return to each aspect “during the discussion on the legislative proposals”. She is obviously counting on broad support from the Parliament, which is now a legislator on an equal footing. The objective of the Spanish Presidency of the Council is for the action plan to be approved before the end of June.
This largely new chapter in European construction is gradually becoming operational.
(F.R./transl.fl)