Brussels, 03/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - There is no agreement on the protection of personal data but perhaps some headway has been made on the post-Lampedusa situation and on ways to prevent tragedies at sea, the most catastrophic of which left 360 people dead on 3 October. The Lithuanian Presidency of the EU Council has a somewhat meagre menu when it comes to decision-making by the justice and home ministers of the EU28, who are to meet on Thursday 5 and Friday 6 December in Brussels. It comes as no surprise either that no decision will be taken on the matter of enlarging the Schengen area to cover Bulgarian and Romania. Those member states will be holding a discussion on this on Thursday.
There could be disappointment on the subject of the major commitments taken by the EU28 during the last European summit. On 25 October, they agreed not only that it was necessary to take swift action to prevent tragedy in the Mediterranean but also that there should be data protection reform. It was agreed that reform should come to a close by January 2015. Some, like Commissioner Viviane Reding, had even anticipated closing the dossier by the European elections.
On Friday, during a debate devoted to part of the regulation replacing the current 1995 directive, cold water was poured on these hopes. The Lithuanian Presidency did not even foresee reaching a general approach on only the “one-stop-shop” part of the regulation that deals with decisions taken by a national data protection authority on behalf of all its European counterparts. The chapter had kept the ministers busy on 7 October this year in Luxembourg and no very clear course of action had in fact emerged during the meeting, the Commission wanting to play a role in the dispute settlement mechanism surrounding a decision, while Germany preferred a body representing the member states. France suggested an intermediary solution. It would appear the situation has not greatly evolved since then.
Some sources said on Wednesday that the “Lithuanian Presidency has killed the proposal and worded some of the questions so badly that it is in any case impossible to move forward”. The Presidency nonetheless argued on Tuesday that it had not promised agreement on such a complex regulation, and that it did not even have the ambition to do so. The Greek Presidency could speed up the work but “it will be very, very difficult to do so before the elections”, a source states.
It may be necessary to wait a few more weeks in order to know more about the other flagship measure announced the day after the Lampedusa tragedy - namely a vast search and rescue operation at sea between Spain and Cyprus entrusted among other things to a “Lampedusa task force” entrusted with working on several fronts.
On Wednesday, the Commission will present the results of that task force. It will, inter alia, be a matter of identifying what Frontex needs in material and funding in order to conduct the operation. The Commission will present around 38 measures, including support measures for legal immigration, for example, via humanitarian visas for Syrian refugees. The ministers will discuss these proposals on Thursday and the European Council in December is also expected to take a stance. No precise date, however, has been put forward for the operation, which could begin next spring, in theory.
Other themes will be tackled on the sidelines of the two-day agenda, such as free movement in Europe (currently being questioned by David Cameron), and relations with the United States after the surveillance scandal. Ministers will also discuss the package of documents published on 27 November by the Commission (see EUROPE 10972), and also European fighters in Syria. Two general approaches are nonetheless on the programme, on civil and commercial rulings and on the recovery of cross-border debts. Conclusions are also expected on “hate crimes” and on European citizenship. Yet another subject of interest will be the 4th Commission report on the post-liberalisation of visas mechanism for the Western Balkans. (SP/transl.jl)