Vienna, 16/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - At the informal JHA Council in Vienna on 13/14 January, EU justice and interior ministers pledged to beef up Europol's powers and promote greater cooperation on internal security issues but failed to agree on increasing EU penal law powers. A conference will be held on security under the EU strategy on the external dimension of JHA (see EUROPE 9080) in Vienna in May, focussing on the Western Balkans. As announced in EUROPE 9104, Croatian interior minister Ivica Kirin and Europol Director Max Peter Ratzel signed an agreement on Friday on operational and strategic cooperation between Croatia and the European Police Office (Europol).
In Vienna, the EU's interior ministers called for a beefing up of Europol's powers. After six years of operation, the European Police Office is expected to strengthen its coordination of counter-terrorism and fighting organised crime. The President of the Council, Austrian interior minister Liese Prokop, said the EU had a common position on existing instruments like Europol and the SIS (Schengen Information System) that facilitate police cooperation and enable it to be extended in an efficient manner. Speaking at a press conference, EU counter-terrorism coordinator Gijs de Vries said Europol had to be given clear counter-terrorism powers. Liese Prokop said she was prepared to lead a no holds barred debate on Europol's fundamental role and direction. Germany has long called for the setting up of a European police force and is critical of Europol's track record. German minister Peter Altmaier slammed various Member States for their lack of political will over turning Europol into a genuine EU police force. Several Member States have not yet ratified the three protocols amending the Europol Convention to allow closer cooperation with national police forces. Europol Director Max-Peter Ratzel recommended giving Europol officials greater operational powers so that when requested by the Member States, they can take a more active role in the investigations of national police forces. Prokop said she was confident that concrete proposals could be unveiled before the end of the Austrian Presidency. She said a big debate had been launched on the future structure of EU internal security ministers had reached consensus on the need to boost existing institutions and develop them more fundamentally, effectively and efficiently. Prokop expected an arrangement to be reached under the Austrian Presidency on improving horizontal coordination because it was important to find ways of harmonising the work of Europol, Eurojust and the taskforce of European police commissioners and turn Europol into a European investigation service with police powers. Austria's justice minister, Karin Gastinger, said this obviously raised the issue of proper control of the exercise of Europol's powers, adding that this control was in the hands of judicial authorities when it came to national proceedings. She said it was necessary to establish a similar control system at EU level and strike a balance of powers. The first thing to do, she said, was to gradually extend Eurojust's role. Gastinger argued against the idea of a European public ministry, exampling that the EU should start by focussing on developing existing institutions before setting up new ones for vague purposes.
Discussion about developing European penal law was described by the Austrian Presidency as very productive but the ministers did not reach any real agreement. On common minimum standards on procedural guarantees, a draft framework decision unveiled nearly two years ago by the European Commission is still on the table, but apart from Belgium, Luxembourg and Portugal (which favour harmonisation), most Member States are divided over the legal basis and scope of the legislation, arguing that it provides little value added in terms of minimum standards. The Austrian Presidency itself admits that in order to make progress here, mutual recognition would be more appropriate. Gastinger said mutual confidence had to reign. Article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights should be used as the legal basis of minimum standards for judicial procedures, she said. Ministers considered progress in developing systems of penalties in penal law under the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice. Debate focussed on the important Court of Justice ruling in September last year on the framework decision regarding environmental protection under penal law recognising that the Commission can ask Member States to impose criminal sanctions for environmental infringements. The Austrian Presidency believes that this opinion has caused confusion, because of the lack of clarity in the principles set out. Additionally, the opinion favours the amendment of seventeen framework decisions and making them Directives, and two further decisions still on the table could suffer the same fate. A number of countries, with the United Kingdom at their head, followed by Sweden and Slovakia, fear that the opinion will bring about a significant transfer of power from Member States to the EU. Given the reticence of States, Commissioner Franco Frattini, who expressed his great satisfaction the day after the Court's opinion was delivered, seems to want to follow a more flexible approach in this area. Council jurisconsult Jean-Claude Piris stated his preference for a case by case evaluation of making decisions into Directives. On the topic of improved coherence in civil and criminal law, Mrs Gastinger explained that various Council formations would deal with different aspects of civil law (company law, copyright, contract law and compensation law). Regulation in these areas does not lie within the JHA Council's competence, while in Member States it is generally within the competence of Justice Ministers. For this reason the Council President considered that it was important to become more aware of the problem.
On the subject of the Strategy on the external dimension to the JHA, adopted in December 2005, Mrs Prokop stressed that “the implementation of this strategy must first be debated within the EU before involving third countries in a partnership, the next big step”. A security conference bringing together European Interior Ministers and a number of third countries, particularly the west Balkan States and those countries which are part of the neighbourhood programme, will take place in Vienna on 4 and 5 May. Mrs Prokop insisted on the importance of the implementation of the external strategy since most of the threats to internal security (illegal immigration, organised crime, terrorism) derive from international problems. “This is why we have to reinforce Justice and Home Affairs Ministers' international activities”, she stressed, adding that in future “cooperation with the EU's new neighbouring states should form part of a security partnership”.