Scheveningen (Netherlands), 04/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - At the informal Council in Scheveningen, debates on the European Justice and Home Affairs policy got to the heart of the matter. The Presidency must submit an initial draft programme to Coreper by 14 October covering at least the next seven years. This draft will go to the Justice and Home Affairs Council of 25 and 26 October, before the European Council launches the second phase of the so-called European policy on "freedom, security and justice" at its meeting of 4 and 5 November. The European Parliament will give its opinion on 14 October.
Apart from the highly controversial subject of asylum and immigration, and questions on exchanges of information between police services (EUROPE of 1 and 2 October), the Informal Council tackled the following issues:
Budget: the European Commission is proposing to almost triple the budget for this policy with the forthcoming financial package 2007-2013. It suggests a gradual increase from the 1.38 billion EUR proposed for 2006 to 3.6 billion EUR in 2013. In a note presented by Commissioner Antonio Vitorino to the Scheveningen Council, almost three-quarters of this budget will be allocated to border management, asylum and immigration, the lion's share going to support actions of the Member States, especially for border surveillance and returning illegal immigrations. This plank of the European policy, which was designed above all to protect the EU against illegal immigration, will bear the name of "freedom". The "security" plank will focus on reinforcing police cooperation, especially exchanges of information. The "justice" plank will support the implementation of the acquis in the field of civil and criminal legal cooperation, including training for judges, and will also encourage people to take part in the elections to the European Parliament in 2009.
Qualified majority and the European Parliament: Having heard the ministers' reactions, the Presidency confirmed that it intended to propose to the European Council to go from qualified majority to codecision with the European Parliament in the field of asylum and immigration, as is allowed under article 67 of the treaty. Nonetheless, the Dutch minister for immigration, Rita Verdonk, said that this change should only refer to some of these policy areas. The President of the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Jean-Louis Bourlanges, came to Scheveningen to plead in favour of more say for the European Parliament in this field. In his speech before the ministers, he stressed the responsibility of parliamentarians, as many ministers are afraid of the much more liberal stances than theirs taken by the European Parliament in recent years in its opinions- which are purely consultative-on immigration, justice, family law… Mr Bourlanges asked for the Council's "trust", and stressed the "democratic legitimacy" of sharing its decision with the MEPs. Mr Bourlanges said that only the German minister Otto Schily appeared reluctant.
Family law: As expected, the ministers appeared fairly unsympathetic to the idea of moving towards a European family law. Amongst other things, the Presidency proposed to resolve the question of the law applicable to inheritance laws (which proposal the Commission would be called on to submit in 2007), and on property for married or unmarried couple (Green Paper in 2008). The main issue to be resolved is that of binational couples. Germany and France felt that the timetable was too short. Malta, Slovakia and Austria, and a few others, do no want harmonisation on the issue of unmarried couples and homosexual couples, said a European source. Spain, which is getting ready to authorise homosexual marriage, was an enthusiastic supporter of the proposals, even calling for things to be speeded up, and suggested developing better mutual knowledge of inheritance regimes and to link up all registers. Austria said that it was ready to support cooperation on inheritance laws.
Police and justice: As at virtually every meeting of the JHA Council, the ministers emphasised the need to reinforce the role of the European Police Office, Europol, and its legal arm Eurojust. At a press conference, Minister Donner and Commissioner Vitorino stressed that the Member States must allow the office to reinforce its role. Most of the Member States came out in favour of looking into creating a committee for internal security, which the Constitutional treaty provides to "reinforce operational cooperation" in this field, said the diplomats. The German minister Otto Schily called for this to be set up within the police chiefs' task force. Other ministers, such as Luxembourg's Luc Frieden, called for a more strategic than operational role within the Council.