Strasbourg, 11/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 11 December the European Parliament argued for a single telephone number to be introduced as a helpline to increase consular protection for EU citizens abroad. The MEPs argue that EU citizens travelling outside the EU should be provided with effective consular assistance in the event of problems. This is the main message the MEPs wanted to send by adopting in plenary a report by Greek MEP Ioannis Varvitsiotis (EPP-ED) on a 2006 Green Paper (see EUROPE 9316). On 5 December, the European Commission unveiled its future plans for consular protection (see EUROPE 9558). The MEPs broadly support the Commission's moves to ensure better information for citizens about their rights and more effective consular protection although in some areas the MEPs want to go much further than the Commission's plans.
The MEPs laid particular emphasis on the establishment of a single telephone helpline number, possibly centred in Brussels, which would be printed in the passports of all EU citizens alongside Article 20 of the EC Treaty. The helpline number would enable any EU citizen to reach an information centre where they can obtain all the information they might need (addresses and contact details of embassies and consulates of EU member states in the event of a crisis situation for which consular protection would come into play). Faced with reluctance from the member states, the Commission is reported to have dropped the idea of a single telephone number. The MEPs, however, called for greater awareness of professionals working in the field through the distribution of brochures and the penning of a recommendation on best practice in terms of information for travellers to ensure information is written in clear, unambiguous language. The MEPs also want a website to be site up under the responsibility of the European Commission to provide all the information for travellers that is currently provided by the different member states. The member states, however, are not happy about the information they provide for their own citizens being compiled centrally, and the |Commission therefore gives little in the way of tangible details in its proposals here. Likewise, the MEPs are calling on the European Commission, once the Lisbon Treaty has been ratified, to submit to the EP a draft amendment of Decision 95/553/EC to expressly include diplomatic protection, identification and repatriation of the corpse in the event of death outside the EU and simplified procedures for providing money to citizens in distress. The MEPs encourage the Commission to extend consular protection to members of the family of EU citizens who are citizens of other countries, and also to recognised refugees and stateless persons and other individuals who do not have the nationality of any particular country but reside in an EU member state and hold a ticket issued in an EU member state. The addition of this last category goes well beyond the ideas mooted by the Commission. The EP unambiguously backs the measures already announced in the Barnier Report to set up 'common offices' in 'trial areas' like the Caribbean, the Balkans, the Indian Ocean and West Africa. The MEPs are calling for harmonisation of procedures for granting emergency economic aid to EU citizens in distress in a country outside the EU. They believe that between now and the establishment of common offices that fully meet all the most vital consular responsibilities (issuing visas, certifying documents, etc.), the Commission should help member states improve the way they cooperation with one another by providing training to diplomats and consular officials. The MEPs call on the Commission to examine options and consequences for consular and diplomatic protection, and the creation of an EU foreign office in lien with the Lisbon Treaty (see article in EUROPE 9557).
For the moment, consular protection is the prerogative of the member states alone. The future Reform Treaty will not challenge their power but the EU will nevertheless have a greater role to play. Article 23 (section II) of the consolidated version of the Lisbon Reform Treaty foresees that directives will be adopted establishing the necessary coordination and cooperation measures to facilitate protection. These measures, however, do not go as far as was set out in the constitutional treaty, which foresaw that the Council would adopt an EU law (similar to an EU regulation) to introduce the necessary measures to ensure diplomatic and consular protection (Article III-127). Compared with the current rules, however, which foresee the ratification of any new measures (Article 22.2 of the Treaty of the EU), it cannot be denied that the new Reform Treaty will make progress in the field of common EU consular protection. (B.C.)