Council and Commission discuss establishment of Freedom, Security and Justice Area

Strasbourg, 10/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Council will assess, during 2001, on the basis of the Commission scoreboard, the progress achieved in the implementation of the Tampere European Council of October 1999. The CSU member, Bernd Posselt questioned, on Wednesday, the Council and Commission over the establishment of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, when regretting the absence of coordination and global strategy in this field, both from the point of view of a timetable as from that of content.

The Swedish Justice Minister, Thomas Bodstrom, gave in particular indications on the judicial and police cooperation, when underlining the results obtained in 2000, under the Portuguese and French Presidencies: adoption of around twenty legal acts and a series of action plans, decision over the fight against economic organised crime, the protection of the Euro, first steps towards the establishment of Eurojust, fight against cybercrime. In answering Mr Posselt, Mr Bodstrom raised the following issues:

• Simplification of the interinstitutional dialogue and the definition of relations between the institutions, the Member States and bodies such as Europol and Eurojust. During its informal meeting on 8 and 9 February, the JHA Council was able to examine with Graham Watson, President of the Freedoms Committee in the EP, the improvements to introduce to the working methods to enable the Parliament to play its part in the face of the increased work load. Moreover, the Council is presently examining how to enable to Parliament to monitor the operation of Eurojust, by adopting short-term measures that would not require amendments to the existing regulations. The question of the participation of the Parliament and Commission in the works of Eurojust has not been finalised, and must be the object of discussions.
• Negotiation with candidate countries. For the countries of the "Luxembourg group" an updated negotiating position should be presented in June, according to the Commission timetable, while for those of the "Helsinki group" a draft negotiating position should be presented in May. Justice and home affairs are a sector of importance in the enlargement negotiations: if it is for the candidate countries to adapt rapidly, the EU 15 must help them to ensure the implementation of law. The horizontal PHARE programme is an instrument in this domain, but according to the Swedish Presidency, more is needed. Thus it invites the representatives from the candidate countries to take part in numerous seminars and meetings by the end of June.
• Legal assistance in view of improving the mutual recognition of final decisions in penal matters. During the Swedish Presidency there will be negotiation over an instrument for decisions preceding a judgments (the initiative will be taken by Sweden, Belgium and France), and an initiative in the mutual recognition and recovery of fines will be presented this spring.

Mahj-Inger Klingvall, Minister for International Cooperation and Development, Migration and Asylum policy, answered the questions stemming from her competence, when recalling her certain decisions taken in 2000, notably the creation of the European fund for refugees, in September, and the Eurodac regulation, in December. The 15 and 16 March of this year the Council was able to adopt a regulation on visas and Mr Klingvall hopes that, buy the end of the Swedish Presidency, it will be possible to adopt the Directive on temporary protection in case of a massive influx of displaced persons as well as the Directive on the family unit. She answered the questions from Mr Posselt concerning:

• Measures aiming to establish a common immigration policy. Other than the decision concerning the family unit, the Swedish Presidency would like to carry out the first reading of a draft Directive on the status of third country citizens that are long-term residents in a Union country. The Commission scoreboard indicates that a Directive on the entry conditions and residency for full-time or independent employees will be presented during first half of this year, the discussion should continue under the Belgian Presidency, which will organise a seminar on this issue. Another proposal to be presented in the spring concerning the conditions for the entry at the end of studies and training.
• Sharing of burden between the Member States. The aim for the European fund for refugees is precisely to promote this sharing. The legislative work underway, assured Mrs Klingvall, aims to create a common asylum system, which would include clear instruments establishing which State is responsible for the asylum request, the minimum rules for hosting the seekers and standards for the asylum procedure. The aim is to ensure a greater predictability and legal security for individuals.

The Laeken Summit will enable to assess the progress achieved since Tampere, Commissioner Antonio Vitorino, in reaffirming that the ruling is not simplified by the presentations of a myriad of initiatives from Member States whose logic sometimes escapes us. Before Laeken, it is necessary to say, according to

Mr Vitorino, that delays are risked if the Council does not accelerate its works. With regards to the transposition of acquis in the internal legal order of the member countries , he felt that it is too early to carry out this assessment, since only one Convention, that concerning Europol, has been ratified by all. With regards to immigration, the Commission does not renounce an active integration policy, by notably examining the potential of the anti-discrimination package adopted in 2000 as well as the Lisbon package on social exclusion. The aim is to achieve a global policy, also covering asylum, even if Mr Vitorino notes that That the debate in the Council did not bode well in terms of financial solidarity. He did, however, welcome the Swedish Presidency's approach, whereby they sought the balance between a more "proactive" carrot and the stick. Mr Vitorino explained at the end of the debate that he had not mentioned drugs since the issue had not come up, but that there was the 2000-2004 Action Plan and the Swedish Presidency had put forward an initiative on synthetic drugs.