Brussels, 10/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - EU Member States do not cooperate sufficiently with police and judicial cooperation agencies in criminal matters, Commissioner Franco Frattini told the press on 10 May. “The information flow is still insufficient,” he said in a letter to all EU Interior and Justice Ministers and to the chairman of the civil liberties committee. This concerns in particular cooperation with Europol and Eurojust.
The same day, the Commissioner suggested Member States give up their veto on police and judicial cooperation and on legal immigration (see related article). The proposal, to be presented in fuller form at the end of June, will have a first discussion in mid-September under Finnish Presidency at an informal meeting of Justice and Internal Affairs Ministers in Turku.
At a press conference on Wednesday with Austrian Home Affairs Minister Liese Prokop, European Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Gijs de Vries and Chairman of the European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee Jean-Marie Cavada (ALDE, France), Mr Frattini stressed that the fight against terrorism was a priority for European citizens and that it was important for Europe to get better results; he regretted that Member States had not been able to advance a number of important dossiers such as the mandate for obtaining evidence, cross-border police cooperation and joint minimum standards on criminal procedure guarantees (see EUROPE 9183 and 9184). Mr de Vries put forward the benefits of cooperation between States, quoting the European arrest warrant which was, he believed, a fine example of the EU's ability to bring terrorists to justice. He thought that this cooperation instrument “showed Europe had an added value”. Mr Cavada stressed the need to apply the bridging clause which permits movement from the third pillar, inter-governmental, to the first, Community, in order to make up lost ground, he said. He added, “When we don't make progress, it's our enemies who go forward”. Austrian Home Affairs Minister, speaking as President of the Council, stress the need for the EU to talk to other cultures and religions and on the importance of discussing with all our partners, giving the example of the dialogue launched in Vienna on 4-5 May between the EU, the United States and Russia (see EUROPE 9186) as well as with neighbourhood countries, including the Balkans (see EUROPE 9187).