Brussels, 02/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - Completion of the asylum package, enlargement of the Schengen area to Bulgaria and Romania, and also the resumption of discussions with the European Parliament (EP) on the seven home affairs dossiers that were blocked by political groups on 14 June this year further to a spat over the future of the free trade area - these are just a few of the priorities that the Cypriot Presidency of the EU Council has set itself since it began its term of office on Sunday. In the field of justice and home affairs, the Schengen issue is one of the most sensitive.
As specified by Andreas Mavroyiannis, Deputy Minister for European Affairs who was speaking on Monday 2 July, Cyprus is expected to reactivate discussion between the Council and Parliament on reform of the Schengen area, attacks against information systems and the future European PNR (Passenger Name Record) programme. All these talks had been suspended after the decision taken by the leaders of EP political groups to penalise the Danish Presidency and the agreement reached by the home ministers on 7 June, in Luxembourg. Headed by Denmark, which hoped to reach a compromise in Council on reform of the Schengen evaluation mechanism, home ministers had agreed to change the legal base, ruling out co-decision and arousing the Parliament's anger. This situation is “unfortunate”, the minister said, considering it was even “unfair” for the Danish Presidency. However, Andreas Mavroyiannis continued, it is “now necessary to find a solution for getting us out of the rut”. Cyprus will thus be working on rekindling debate on Schengen even though the country is not part of the area of freedom of movement. Due to its specific geopolitical location, which means it is exposed to major migrant flows and requires greater border management, Cyprus was unable, unlike Bulgaria and Romania, to enter the area of free movement when it joined the EU in 2004. However, the minister went on to add, that situation should soon change.
Regarding the other home affairs issues, Cyprus will continue to work against illegal immigration, for the strengthening of relations with the countries of origin and for effective application of readmission agreements. Denmark managed to negotiate signature by Turkey of a readmission agreement in exchange for opening up dialogue on visa liberalisation in favour of Ankara, just before Nicosia took over the presidency in office. Cyprus was in fact among those countries that were the most reticent about the dialogue on visas.
Other issues that Cyprus will be tackling are the prevention of terrorism and fundamentalism, the implementation of a European Terrorist Finance Tracking System (TFTS), and the conclusion of a PNR agreement with Canada, after those already concluded with the United States and Australia.
Regarding the “justice” dossiers, Nicosia will continue its work on the mutual recognition of decisions, for example on matrimonial regimes, or those aimed at confiscating/freezing the proceeds of organised crime. Discussion will be headed by Cyprus on the rights of suspects, especially the proposal relating to access to a lawyer during detention. (SP/transl.jl)