Brussels, 14/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - EU Interior Minsters, meeting for the first time under Portuguese presidency in Brussels on Tuesday 18 September, are expected to complete negotiations on the framework decision on the protection of personal data within the framework of police and judicial cooperation (third pillar). Ministers will meet in the morning, the afternoon being given over to justice issues. On the eve of the meeting, there will be an informal dinner over which prospects for internal affairs will be discussed. Talks have not as yet brought great progress on this point. Justice Ministers will be invited to join this discussion circle.
Hitherto, there has been no third pillar European legislation to protect personal information. In October 2005, the European Commission proposed to fill this gap (see EUROPE 9041). In the face of the plethora of laws and international agreements to combat terrorism and crime in the EU, the European Parliament brought great pressure to bear on the Council for it to adopt this proposal, pushing even heads of state and government at the June European Council to demand the adoption of the text before the end of the year. This is likely to come to pass, with states agreeing on a compromise on two of the stumbling blocks. Member states have agreed to accept the view of the United Kingdom that the text should refer only to cross-border personal data, and not strictly national data, as France wanted. That begged the question of how data could be protected if member state A transferred sensitive data to member state B, and then B sent the same data to third country C. Here, member states agreed that the authorisation of country A would have to be sought for the transfer of data between countries B and C. States will only be allowed to by-pass this rule in the event of a “serious and immediate threat to the security” of a member state or the third country, or where the “essential interests” of a member state are at stake, and if it has been impossible to get the authorisation of state A.
At the joint committee, ministers will linger over preparations for the opening of the Schengen area to the new member states (with the exception of Cyprus) which joined the EU in 2004. After the states successfully connected to the Schengen police database, the Schengen Information System (SIS), on 1 September, there now remains the definitive assessment of border security. All the states seem to be on the right road, even though a reasonably serious problem recently came to light because of a preferential regime granted to Croatia, whose nationals need only an identity card to travel to Slovenia and Hungary. For security reasons, several member states have challenged this regime. The Council is expected to agree on a Council decision on a uniform format for residence permits for third country nationals. Ministers will also consider what improvements could be brought to the European border Control agency FRONTEX and to the instruments it has at its disposal to carry out its operations. It should be noted that there is no consensus among member states on the idea put forward by Malta at the start of the summer that migrants picked up in the Mediterranean should be spread among all 27 member states. Justice Ministers will try to find a compromise of the creation of a European day against the death penalty on 10 October. For the moment, Poland is blocking progress. The presidency could try to make Poland see reason, by proposing that it adopt a unilateral resolution “protection of life”. Commissioner Franco Frattini will present his report on visa reciprocity (see related article). The signing of visa facilitation agreements and readmission agreements between the EU and the Balkan countries (visas: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia; Readmission: all except Albania) will take place on Tuesday afternoon. (bc)