Brussels, 09/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday morning, the Committee of Permanent Representatives from the member states (COREPER) decided to meet the request made by MEPs from the civil liberties committee to access Council evaluation documents on the technical progress accomplished by Romania and Bulgaria for joining the Schengen area. The Council decided to modify the classification of some of these documents from “restricted” to “limited”. These documents will therefore be sent to MEPs at the committee but according to one source, they will not be “officially made public”. On Wednesday, the committee also decided to include a “detailed discussion” at the JHA ministers' meeting on 24 - 25 February, with regard to the requests made to Romania and Bulgaria in order for them to be able to join the free movement area in the long term. A decision on their joining this area was initially planned for the end of March 2011 but has today been postponed. This gesture made by the Council on the “Schengen documents” should help to smooth out the conflict pitting the Council against MEPs over recent weeks. The latter felt that they had been unfairly excluded from these discussions and have been unable to produce an opinion on the issue.
In a letter dated Tuesday 8 February, the S&D chair of the civil liberties committee, Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, also called on the president of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, to put pressure on the Council so that it provided MEPs from the committee with all “restricted” documents by 2 May 2011 at the latest. This timetable was decided upon on Thursday 3 February by the rapporteur on the issue, Carlos Coehlo (EPP), who was asked to draft an EP opinion on the technical progress achieved. On Wednesday morning, he had still not decided the precise date that these documents would be sent to MEPs but this is expected to take place before the deadline set out by the latter, according to one source close to the dossier. Until now, the Council had only invited some MEPs (the rapporteur, political coordinators and the Commission president) to attend consultations regarding these restricted documents (which in fact took place in a secure room at the Council) and subsequently led to the anger expressed by the MEPs.
This is not, however, the first time that the two institutions have been involved in a dispute on the subject of access to documents and the Schengen issue. Neither is it the only concern of MEPs at the civil liberties committee, given that in its letter of 8 February, committee chair Lopez Aguilar referred to the difficulty involving negotiations began between the EU, the US, Canada and Australia and the review over Passenger Name Records (PNR).
The Spanish chair also requested Buzek to do everything in his power to enable MEPs from the committee to obtain mandates adopted by the Council at the beginning of December, in order to allow the European Commission to begin discussions on reviewing these agreements. MEPs also want to obtain the mandate granted in December to Viviane Reding for beginning other discussions with the US over the draft comprehensive transatlantic agreement on data protection. MEPs will also have to formulate their opinion on these latter subjects. Lopez Aguilar is calling on Jerzy Buzek to obtain Council mandates by 16 March. (S.P./transl.fl)