Brussels, 01/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - Several important developments in the Justice and Home Affairs sector took place on Monday 1 December. These particularly involve the “Lisbonisation” of the measures in the third pillar and the Commission and European Council's agreement that the United Kingdom can maintain 35 legal and police cooperation measures, including six pertaining to the Schengen acquis.
Five years after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the powers of the Commission and the European Court of Justice will subsequently apply to all JHA acts. Through protocol 36 of the treaty, the United Kingdom will now be able to have its say on what measures it will continue to apply and those it will get rid of.
In a press release, the Commission said that, “this is the beginning of a new era” because the current restrictions on the European Court of Justice's powers and those on the Commission as guardian of the treaty in the area of judicial and criminal legal cooperation will now be lifted. In practice, this means that the Commission will have the right of launching infringement procedures in any area unanimously agreed to by the member states and which have not been correctly implemented. More than 130 pre-Lisbon legislative acts could be involved, such as the European Arrest Warrant and the Prüm decision, instruments that have indeed been the cause of concern among British leaders. Police and criminal legal cooperation are the last remaining parts of the “third pillar” in the Union' s legislation, which previously covered the entire scope of justice and home affairs. A five-year transition period has been planned so that member states can adapt to the change. The Commission has benefited from this transition to examine its legislation and on 28 November it decided to propose to the EP and Council that 24 acts it believes are obsolete be abrogated. These involve the 96/610/JHA joint action on creating a leadership body that specialises in antiterrorism expertise and skills, decision 96/699/JHA on the exchange of information on drugs and chemical precursors and the 98/427/JHA joint action on good practices in the area of mutual assistance in criminal proceedings. These actions have often been replaced by other texts.
With regard to the United Kingdom, once Spain' reservations were lifted, the Council was able to agree during the last General Affairs Council on the participation of the country in six measures deriving from the Schengen. On Monday 1 December, the Commission gave the go-ahead for 29 so-called non-Schengen measures. One of the flagship measures the United Kingdom chose, after a very controversial vote among MEPs, was to remain within the European Arrest Warrant. The United Kingdom will also continue to participate in Europol and Eurojust. On the other hand, it does not wish to remain bound by the Prüm decision on the exchange of DNA data between member state police forces but still has until the end of 2015 to decide on this question. The vice president of the Commission, Frans Timmermans said, “The European Commission very much welcomes the move by the UK, which means that the UK will continue to work alongside its neighbours to fight against cross-border crime in an EU-wide framework”. (SP)