Brussels, 16/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - European legal cooperation, asylum and immigration policies are now to be the subject of a balance sheet report. In May, the five-year deadline set by the Amsterdam Treaty and the Tampere conclusions for creating the first bases for such policies will be met, in accordance with concrete and detailed objectives. Although definite progress has already been made and although real cooperation is now beginning, assessment of such emerging policies nonetheless remains mitigated, and although unanimity is acceptable, Member States continue to find it difficult to make concessions or to give up even a little bit of their sovereignty. This is particularly true for the areas of asylum and immigration where Member States adopt common norms that are so minimal that texts often remain symbolic.
On this occasion, the European Commission published a communication that is somewhat more than the usual half-yearly exercise for updating the scoreboard set in place since 2000 for assessing progress made. The European Commission hopes to see in the conclusions of both European Councils of the second half of 2003, which mention these policies, the sign “that it is clear” that Member State commitments to respect the goals “are more than ever at the top of the political agenda of the Heads of State and Government”. Nonetheless, it recognises that “some key texts may not be ready in time for the deadline” and urge Member States to step up their efforts.
The European Commission foresees presenting a communication in June which will “give a global and objective assessment of achievements and possible failures”. To this end, it will launch on-line consultation with citizens and interested parties. In the same document, it will seek to lay the foundations for what comes after. It will “propose its first guidelines for the second phase of creating the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice - the Tampere II agenda - using the constitutional Treaty or its draft as a base” if Member States have not in the meantime resolved their differences at the Intergovernmental Conference.
Asylum: Last year, Member States managed to agree on the rules for sharing the burden of examining requests for asylum (Dublin II) and adopted minimal rules on the conditions for hosting asylum seekers. On the other hand, just four months from the deadline, the Justice and Home Affairs Council continues to come up against two very important texts on the status of refugees and the beneficiaries of alternative protection, and on the procedures for processing requests for asylum. The first has been suspended for many months, pending the time when Germany has adopted its national policy in this connection, an indispensable condition for it to give its agreement. The second is still being discussed. Opinions still differ considerably and associations for the defence of refugees express concern about the low level of protection afforded to refugees. The text will be the focus of the Informal JHA Council in Dublin, on 22 January.
Legal immigration: Member States have managed to agree on a status for long-term residents after five years of residence, the main step being to ensure that the status is not lost if one moves from one Member State to another. The Council has also adopted a very minimal text on family reunification, on which action was initiated at the Court of Justice by the European Parliament, which considers that at least one of the clauses does not comply with international conventions (the requirement that children of over twelve years of age should take a test before being able to join their parents in Europe). Member States are struggling to make progress on legal immigration. The European Commission speaks modestly about “slow progress” in examining its admission proposal for employment, presented three and a half years ago. In November, the Council noted blocking and called on the Commission to present its proposal in a different way.
Borders: The fight against illegal immigration “remains at the top of the political agenda”, the Commission notes in its update on the roadmap. During the last half year, Member States mainly moved forward in paving the way for a European border protection policy. They rapidly adopted first conclusions in favour of the European Commission's proposal to create an agency to manage external borders, the adoption of which could possibly be on the Council agenda by March. This agency would head the centre that already exists on overland border management and the centres being set up for frontiers in the air (Italy) and at sea (Spain and Greece). The main task of such centres is to coordinate pilot projects. The border agency will not, at least initially, be a European border guard.
Work is continuing toward setting in place the future second generation Schengen Information System. The Commission is soon to present a proposal for a regulation on a visa database (VIS). At its last meeting, the Council welcomed the Commission's proposal to introduce biometric data in visas and residence permits of third country nationals. The Commission had promised a proposal for introducing such data in passports of all European citizens by end 2003 or early 2004.
Illegal immigration and expulsions: Although European Commission proposals are still awaited, progress is nonetheless being made on cooperation for the expulsion of persons in an illegal situation, for some of the operational aspects. Member States have adopted in recent months a German proposal setting out the arrangements in the case of expulsion by air through another Member State. They have reached a political agreement on an Italian proposal for organising joint flights. The European Commission was expected to present two proposals last autumn, one for a financial instrument for sharing the cost of expulsions, and the other for establishing minimum common norms for such operations. The new scoreboard still announces these proposals but no date has been given.
Furthermore, there has been progress toward the signing by third countries of readmission agreements for persons in an illegal situation. An agreement has been signed with Macao and another is soon to be signed with Sri Lanka. Discussions are under way with Russia and Ukraine, and the Commission trusts discussion may be opened early this year with Pakistan.
Trafficking of human beings: The entry into force of one of the major breakthroughs of legal cooperation in criminal matters, namely the European arrest warrant (to replace extradition), is on one hand hampered by the fact that only eight Member States out of fifteen were ready at the date set of 1 January 2004 and by the fact that the European Commission has still not presented a proposal on guarantees in criminal procedures. The Commission announces by way of introduction for the roadmap that it is “on the point” of presenting this proposal, which is seen by many at the European Parliament and in Amnesty International, for example, as an essential attribute to the arrest warrant.
The European Commission presented another proposal of Eurepoan warrant, this time for obtaining evidence (documents, objects) in the context of criminal proceedings.
In November, the Council reached an unexpected political agreement on the definition and penalties for drug trafficking. The European Commission, on the other hand, regrets that no progress has been made in recent months toward adopting the framework decision on racism and xenophobia. Work on this text has been suspended for many months now, partly due to Italy's fierce opposition to the text, and partly because Member States are very divided over where the point of demarcation between freedom of expression and reprehensible racism lies.
Legal cooperation in civil matters: Considerable progress was made in legal cooperation in civil matters, since the Fifteen finally adopted, in November, the regulation on parental responsibility, which, it is hoped, will allow the situation of child custody in bi-national couples to be clarified, since it determines the rule that it is the judge responsible who must decide. Member States have also moved forward on the creation of a writ of execution for unchallenged debts. The Commission submitted in July last year a proposal for determining which law would apply to non-contractual relations (Rome II).