On Tuesday 20 December, the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) gave its approval to the temporary agreement on the firearms directive reached earlier this month between the European Parliament, Council and Commission. The Commission recognised the progress made with regard to current legislation but is unhappy with the way in which its ambition was revised downwards by MEPs and the member states.
“Obviously, we would have liked to have gone further but I am convinced that the current agreement represents a turning point in arms control within the EU”, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced rather unenthusiastically. He also pointed out that the goal of the initiative, which was presented in November 2015 following the terrorist attacks in Paris (see EUROPE 11433), was to limit any deaths provoked by legally held firearms.
Heads - the regrets. The Commission has effectively fought a tough campaign against the other two institutions, as EUROPE indicated last October (see EUROPE 11656). This went to the extent of the most recent inter-institutional meeting (see EUROPE 11683) lasting a remarkable seven hours. The Commission was absolutely determined to ban the most dangerous semiautomatic weapons such as the AK47 and AR15. It did not, however, win its argument on this dossier.
Neither did the Commission succeed in banning the possession of assault weapons by private collectors or limit magazine chargers to a maximum of 10 bullets for all semiautomatic weapons. On this last point, the Parliament and the Council reached a rather grotesque compromise: owning semiautomatic weapons when they have been reduced to at least 60 cm or when they contain a charger of 20 bullets for small arms or a charger of 10 bullets for long firearms. Simultaneously possessing a weapon that could contain a charger for more than 20 bullets, at the same time as a 20 bullet magazine will be forbidden.
Tails – the progress. The most important progress achieved includes: -the ban on automatic weapons converted into semiautomatic weapons (Category A); - including museums and collectors in the directive’s scope, which was the source of many complicated debates at the Parliament (see EUROPE 11513); - regulation of acoustic weapons or firearms transformed into blank firing firearms, subject to authorisation (Category B) or declaration (Category C) according to the kind of arm of origin; - for the first time, including so-called “neutralised” firearms, which are not simply scrapped but subject to declaration; - the introduction of systematic medical controls, which was also the subject of heated discussions at the Parliament and during the trilogue negotiations (see EUROPE 11681).
The directive will also apply to Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
The provisional agreement is expected to be examined by MEPs in the internal market and consumer protection committee (IMCO) during its next meeting in January. The text could well be put to a vote during the plenary session in March 2017. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)