Brussels, 15/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, the EU27 home affairs ministers reached a political agreement on transposition of the main provisions of the Prüm Treaty (Schengen III) throughout the Union, despite the refusal by the United Kingdom and Ireland to authorise crossborder pursuit of suspects by police, the EU Presidency said. German Home Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said during a press conference that they had reached a political consensus on integration of the Prüm Treaty into the European legal order.
Transposition of this treaty will make it possible to create, at European level, a modern police information exchange system, mainly through the sharing of data on DNA, fingerprints and vehicle registrations, so that the Union's repressive services may combat crime as effectively as possible (EUROPE 9365). The legislative initiative proposed by Germany to member states aims more specifically at integrating certain parts of the Prüm Treaty (data sharing and police cooperation) into the third pillar of acquis communautaire. Although a majority of member states took the German idea on board, the United Kingdom and Ireland nonetheless objected to the fact that police from other member states might, in a situation of emergency, continue pursuit of crime suspects beyond borders (Article 18 of the proposal). The refusal of these two countries does not come as a big surprise, Mr Schäuble said, saying that various proposals would be considered with the Commission in order to seek to resolve the problem. The minister also specified that the reasons invoked by the United Kingdom and Ireland mainly related to the specific problem of Northern Ireland territory. A diplomatic source explained that the British do not intend to allow police from the Republic of Ireland to intervene on Northern Ireland soil, and the opposite is also true. Article 18 is one of the key principles of the Prüm Treaty, Franco Frattini, Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs, said. The provisions of this article in particular could be the subject of a separate proposal. In the meantime, the draft decision on transposition of part of the Prüm Treaty will soon be forwarded to the Parliament for opinion. (bc)