Brussels, 06/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - EU home affairs ministers will confirm in Brussels on Thursday 8 November that everything is ready for the forthcoming enlargement of the Schengen area. There will, then, be an eagerly awaited discussion on the initiatives, recently presented by the Commission, on legal immigration and, particularly, on the idea of a blue card for highly qualified immigrants. The following day, justice ministers will endorse the important political agreement on the proposal on data protection as part of police and legal cooperation. An agreement is also expected on the draft directive relating to certain aspects of civil and commercial mediation.
Enlargement of the Schengen area will finally happen. Even though the Portuguese presidency might have jumped the gun somewhat by announcing the news at the end of October (see EUROPE 9536), home affairs ministers will officially approve the effective lifting of land and sea border controls with effect from 21 December, and in international airports from 30 March 2008 for those countries which joined the EU in 2004 (Cyprus excepted). The European Parliament will vote on 15 November on extending the Schengen area. The Council will then endorse the decision formally. The European Council of 12-13 December will publicly confirm the news.
EU in better cheer over legal immigration. The 27 EU member states will, for the first time, begin discussions on the proposals made by the European Commission on 23 October (see EUROPE 9529 and 9530). While many questions remain on how to open the gates of the EU to legal immigrants, many countries feel, however, that turning in on themselves is not the way forward. The European Commission certainly got it right, as its first proposal, which will later lead to others, concerns only highly qualified immigrants. This debate will probably lead the ministers to consider recent events in Italy with the Romano Prodi government adopting a decree making it easier to expel non-Italian EU nationals for public safety reasons. Several expulsion procedures have been opened, largely against Romanians. Romania has expressed its concern over such “xenophobic reactions”. The ministers of the countries which joined the EU in 2004 are certain to take the opportunity to raise the matter of the restrictions on the freedom of movement of workers still imposed on their citizens by some old member states.
A disappointing text on data protection. After almost two years of bitter negotiations, the ministers are expected to finally reach political agreement on the draft framework decision on the protection of personal data as part of the third pillar. Agreement on the main thrust of the text was already reached in September (see EUROPE 9504). Given the ambition of the original text, the result is not great, particularly in the opinion of countries like Hungary, which feels that the level of protection given by this text is not very high. The proposal will only cover cross-border data, not national. Moreover, several arrangements already in place (Schengen Information System, Visa Information System, Europol and Eurojust operating systems) or to be put in place in the future (Prüm) and PNR agreements will not be covered by the framework decision.
Civil and commercial mediation restricted to cross-border business. The ministers are likely to end three years of negotiations by reaching agreement on the draft directive on civil and commercial mediation to resolve cross-border disputes by means other than the courts. This agreement was the subject of a compromise with the Parliament on first reading (see EUROPE 9338). Several countries, such as the Netherlands, along with Austria, Germany and Slovenia, did not want the scope of the text to go beyond cross-border business and cover internal business. This reduced version won the day. However, there is provision for a review clause after two years, allowing the Commission to develop the situation.
Other issues to be dealt with. There is likely to be political agreement on a draft decision on cooperation between member states' special intervention units in crises. However, the text has been emptied of substance, and allows for almost exclusively bilateral cooperation. The presidency will give an overview of the directive on the return of illegal immigrants. The problems are concentrated notably on the amount of time an immigrant who refuses to return home voluntarily will be banned from re-applying for a visa to travel to Europe. The presidency is expected, too, to say it wants agreement on the draft decision on Europol by June 2008. States, however, are sceptical, given that there are three major difficulties to overcome: the issue of immunity granted to Europol officers within joint investigation teams, police quotas inside Europol and the principle of budgetary neutrality. (B.C.)