The member state ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) reached agreement on Wednesday 22 November on the draft Council decision establishing a multi-annual framework for the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) for 2018-2022.
In its initial proposal presented in July 2016, the Commission included police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters. The member states, however, decided against their inclusion in the multi-annual framework.
In the latest version of the draft text, which is likely to be adopted on Tuesday 28 November, according to a European source, the thematic areas set for this period are: - victims of crime and access to justice; - equality and discrimination based on a list of defined criteria, including gender, political opinion, and belonging to a national minority; - the information society and, in particular, respect for privacy and protection of personal data; - migration, borders, and asylum and the integration of refugees and migrants; - racism, xenophobia and associated intolerance; - children’s rights; - Roma integration and social inclusion; - judicial cooperation, except in criminal matters.
Very few changes have been brought to the previous framework (2013-2017), with the thematic areas remaining the same. On migration, however, the new framework seems to lay greater emphasis on the integration of migrants whereas previous framework focused more on border control.
According to a Council Secretariat General document seen by EUROPE, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Italy and Ireland argued for police and judicial cooperation should be included in the multi-annual framework. Regretting that a unanimous decision on inclusion could not be reached, they would like the Commission to bring forward a proposal that would see these areas included, in the external evaluations in 2017.
The European Parliament, which was consulted, also regretted the failure to come to agreement and said that the inclusion of these areas would reflect “needs on the ground”.
In fact, police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters is already an area in which the FRA is active. Article 5 of its founding regulation allows it to go beyond the thematic areas set out in the multi-annual framework at the request of the European Parliament, the Council or the Commission. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)