Brussels, 07/05/2003 (Agence Europe) - Most Member States do not favour the idea of granting Switzerland derogations to the Schengen Agreement - or specific interpretations of the measures - which it has requested for the country's association with the Schengen Agreement, indicate various diplomatic sources following the meeting of the EU's Permanent Representatives' Committee on Wednesday. All the same, the Justice and Home Affairs Council is not expected to discuss the issue in much depth on Thursday, but are likely to set up a working group to look at potential solutions, explained an expert. The changes requested by Switzerland (via an interpretative statement, in particular) aim to exclude crimes concerning taxation from legal aid. Swiss sources insist this is not a derogation but a clarification of the agreement, pointing out that the statement they are asking for would only cover requests for investigations with a view to enforcement of measures to counter tax evasion. The Commission, however, wants to stick to its strict interpretation of the agreement and is refusing to have a "made to measure" Schengen Agreement. Switzerland is also calling of the agreement to set out that information supplied for an investigation but covering other issues cannot be used for cases involving tax evasion. If it does not win its way, Switzerland is threatening to refuse to conclude the Savings Tax chapter of the EU-Swiss negotiators. The next negotiating meeting will be held on 19 May.
A few details about other issues on the agenda (see Europe of 6 May, p.14):
Mutual recognition of pecuniary sanctions: it is confirmed that the Fifteen are expected to reach an political agreement on this subject. The field of application for this decision on recognition and the execution of the fines should be within the decision of the European mandate, to which some infringements, including the code for roads and intellectual property, as well as flights. The Netherlands, which was calling for a specific list, was ruled out. Germany is going to add a unilateral declaration to the text, announcing that it would be proposing a framework decision on cooperation for pursuing road infringement.
Status for refugees: on Wednesday, the Presidency confirmed that it was not expecting an agreement at this Council, with "Germany being the obstacle". In order to respect the Seville commitments, the paper will have to be approved in June, the same for the proposal on the status of long term residents in third countries, which will also be on the agenda and on which the Fifteen are hoping to make progress on Thursday in preparation for adoption in June.
Legal and extradition agreements with the USA: the objective of obtaining the decision to sign the two agreements was postponed till June, with France, in particular, not having finished its internal consultations. But the Presidency is, all the same, indicating that it hoped to obtain confirmation for this objective, indeed an overall global approval ("general approach") of the content of the agreements. The Presidency indicated on Wednesday that they hoped that the Council would take the decision on Thursday to give the green light for the signature in June. The Presidency is also hoping that Member States would indicate on Thursday if they needed t carry out internal procedures, notably to the Parliament, before the signature was confirmed with a definitive conclusion of the agreement.