Brussels, 01/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - At the end of the Council, on Thursday, the Justice and Home Affairs Ministers of the Fifteen met their counterparts from the candidate countries. On the basis of a catalogue of best practices on measures for removing people and readmission agreements in the Schengen Area, they debated border controls and examined measures taken by candidate countries to enhance their administrative and judicial capabilities. They also adopted a joint declaration on drugs, in which candidate countries undertake to follow the guidelines of the European Union Action Plan 2000-2004 for combating drugs. The joint declaration also stresses that all efforts would be made to rapidly conclude negotiations for the Candidate countries to be able to join the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs Addiction (EMCDA). Negotiations will begin on 7 March.
Here is an overview of the issues discussed in Council that we did not refer to yesterday:
European prosecutor: the Council did not acclaim the European Commission's proposal of creating a European prosecutor responsible for the protection of the Communities' financial interests. Having heard a presentation of the White Paper on the Prosecutor (EUROPE of 13 December) by the Commissioner responsible for the Budget, Michaele Schreyer, Member States had a short discussion in which they noted several difficulties of a practical and constitutional order, and considered that the time had not come to take such a radical decision, Council sources explain.
Freeze of assets and proof: questioned about Italy's attitude (yesterday's EUROPE, p.11), Spanish Justice Minister Angel Acebes chose to close the dispute, telling the press that it was a question of a parliamentary reservation like any other, due to the fact that "the Italian criminal code does not comprise a system for a freeze on assets or goods, and that there therefore needed a parliamentary amendment to the code".
Air police: the Council had a "lively" discussion on the Austrian proposal of deciding, at European level, to place police on board certain aircraft, but without reaching a conclusion, declared the Spanish Minister at the end of the Council. The issue will be sent on to a working party and the Committee of Permanent Representatives, but it does not seem to have much chance of success. The group of experts who have debated this issue since 11 September concluded tat there was no consensus between the Fifteen, and very strong objections by many delegations to the presence of weapons on board aircraft. Austria is proposing adopting a Council framework-decision on the use of air police and a European manual for the selection, training and use of these police, and to ensure that they have common training at the European Police College. Austria, with the United States, Israel and Switzerland, is one of the very few countries to have introduced the presence of police on board certain flights, and its experience shows that this presence "has considerable importance", states a document prepared by the country. Since the system was set up in Austria in 1981, 40,000 flights have been accompanied, which has "considerably improved security onboard", notably by preventing an aircraft hijack, and no incident is said to have been caused by the presence of these police, Austria states.
PMMA Synthetic drug: Member States undertook to take, in their domestic legislation, measures necessary to subject PMMA to measures of control and criminal sanctions, within three months.