Brussels, 20/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 20 June, EU Justice and Fundamental Rights Commissioner Viviane Reading urged the European Council in Ypres and Brussels on 26 and 27 June to avoid simply talking about top people and their jobs and to consider policies for ordinary people as well.
In a speech to CEPS, Viviane Reding, who hails from Luxembourg and was recently elected as an MEP (she has until 30 June to say whether she will be starting work at the EP on 1 July or if she will continue at the Commission until 30 October) gave some indications of the subject matters to be discussed by the EU's leaders, who have the future of justice policies on their agenda. She said work should be three-pronged - mutual trust in decisions taken, mobility and how justice can contribute to economic growth.
Some highly symbolic issues would be very important, she said, such as the future rule of law mechanism that Reading wants, to allow the Commission to take preventative action against a member state if it starts to violate fundamental European principles, or protection of the free movement of individuals, which she said was non-negotiable but should not prevent the clamping down on abuse.
The European Commission at one time wanted to hold a debate among the European commissioners about freedom of movement and abuse of it (problems having been raised by the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden) but the Commission ended up simply having a speech by Commissioner Reding.
The four countries at least have the consolation prize ahead of the European Council of their concerns being noted in a short paragraph in the conclusions document stating that the right of citizens to freely live and work in the EU must be protected, including against any potential abuse and fraudulent applications.
The heads of state and/or government are not expected to discuss this at the European summit. (SP)