Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-02-12-Speech-3-196"
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Mr President, Minister, ladies and gentlemen, the annual debate on an area of freedom, security and justice must be seen against the broader backdrop of the progress that has actually been made in the course of the last year, as a result of the commitment of the successive Spanish and Danish Presidencies. This debate must also be seen in the context of the forthcoming enlargement and of the work of the Convention on the Future of Europe.
As to the issue the honourable Member raised concerning the usefulness and effectiveness of the networks, the Commission wishes to state clearly to Parliament that its assessment of the work undertaken by the networks that have real operational duties, such as Europol, Eurojust, or bodies such as the Chiefs of Police task-force and the judicial networks in civil and criminal matters, is positive. Nevertheless, we must emphasise that not all networks present the same added value and that the Council should be more particular in selecting its priorities for establishing these networks.
With regard to the relationship between the Commission and the European Parliament, the Commission is attempting scrupulously to comply with the framework agreement signed by the two institutions on 5 July 2000. In this context, I intend, as early as next week in Brussels, to inform the European Parliament’s Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs of developments in the negotiations underway on readmission agreements with third countries.
With regard to the issue of evaluating the way in which framework decisions are transposed into the national legal system of each State, The Commission wishes to draw Parliament’s attention to the fact that evaluation methods vary from framework decision to framework decision. Our view is that priority should now be given to the framework decision on combating terrorism, which should be transposed by all Member States by the end of 2002. We are gathering information from the Member States on this transposal and we hope to be able to present the corresponding report by the end of 2003. As always, the Commission is paying particular attention to achieving the necessary balance between respect for the law and for the protection of people’s fundamental rights and the fight against organised crime and terrorism. To this end, following a recommendation of the European Parliament, the Commission has created a network of experts in fundamental rights. This year’s report on this network of experts focuses in particular on the compatibility of the measures adopted by the Member States and by the European Union on the fight against terrorism and respect for fundamental rights.
Finally, with regard to the rapporteur’s last question on the framework decision on procedural guarantees for persons standing trial, the Commission welcomes the Greek Presidency’s intention to include this matter in the discussion at the Véria informal Council at the end of March. For our part, before this Council we will be adopting a Green Paper on common rules for procedural guarantees for persons standing trial anywhere in the Union. This Green Paper will give civil society and legal professionals, in both current and future Member States, the opportunity to contribute to the debate, with a view to our presenting a proposal for a framework decision that we believe must be scheduled by the end of this year. The Commission is consequently committed to establishing minimum common rules in this field, as stated in its presentation of the annual work programme for 2003.
I wish to conclude by announcing that work is also underway on guarantees for equal treatment in gathering and processing evidence and the on the right to remain silent during trial. We believe these matters to be particularly important for creating a common base, a common platform in criminal cases, in order to make mutual trust and cooperation between judicial authorities more effective in the fight against organised crime.
In short, the progress that has been made is unequivocal and undeniable. They are not balanced in all aspects of the area of freedom, security and justice, but in light of this experience we can help the Convention on the Future of Europe to overcome the main institutional and procedural difficulties to ensure that the Union becomes an area of peace, prosperity, freedom, cohesion, security and solidarity.
First of all, I wish to congratulate Baroness Ludford on the quality of the questions she has put to the Commission and to answer the first of these by saying that the Commission still takes the view that the future Treaty on the area of freedom, security and justice should enshrine the principle of the Commission’s exclusive right of legislative initiative. Indeed, we feel that the transfer of the majority of legislative aspects to the codecision process will only be coherent if we retain the framework of the Commission’s right of legislative initiative. Giving the right of legislative initiative to a Member State or to some Member States will always cause problems and confusion in implementing common codecision rules. I would add that the Commission’s right of initiative is today the most appropriate, precisely because it is exercised in the framework of a set of interinstitutional programmes agreed with the European Parliament and with the European Council itself.
With regard to the second question, dealing with the priority given to combating terrorism and illegal immigration, the Commission believes that these were not only priorities in 2002, but will also be priorities in 2003. The European Union has demonstrated its ability to respond to the terrorist threat by adopting two important instruments: the European arrest warrant and the framework decision on combating terrorism. From the Commission’s point of view, the final text of these two legislative initiatives will ensure a healthy balance between the objectives intended to facilitate investigations and prosecutions against terrorists, on the one hand, and, on the other, the protection of defendants’ rights, but I shall return to this issue a little later.
The Seville European Council gave new impetus to speeding up all aspects of implementing the programme adopted in Tampere with a view to creating an area of freedom, security and justice. New priority has been given to measures intended to combat illegal immigration and to establish the common management of our external borders. At the same time, however, the Seville Council also laid down objectives and timetables for adopting the other decisions in the field of asylum and immigration policy laid down in the Tampere Council conclusions.
The Commission responded quickly to this new priority by presenting its proposals for an integrated management system for external borders, that was generally well received by the Council and included in the action plan that was not only approved by the Council last June, but was also recently endorsed by the European Parliament in a resolution voted on last month.
This progress must of course be assessed in light of the timetable and programmes for measures established at Tampere. Progress must also be in line with an approach that is balanced between the three components: freedom, security and justice. The Commission emphasised once again in the last scoreboard, of 16 December 2002, that there are still delays in adopting asylum and immigration issues. We hope that the Greek Presidency will, as the Minister has just stated, give a commitment to speeding up work on adopting this legislation within the framework laid down by the Seville European Council.
In relation to the fourth issue raised by Baroness Ludford, I wish to say that the Greek Presidency has given pride of place on its agenda to the debate on family reunification and on the status of long-term residents in the European Union, together with the directive that Parliament debated yesterday, on the entry of third-country nationals for the purpose of paid employment and with the directive on the conditions of entry and residence for citizens from third countries for the purpose of study. We will consequently have the basic legislative framework in the field of immigration policy that is being discussed in Council. I would also add the initiative that the Commission will be adopting next month to present a communication focusing on the issue of integrating third-country nationals into European reception societies.
With regard to the future of decision-making processes, the Commission welcomes the conclusions reached by the Convention’s working group on Justice and Home Affairs, because it acknowledges that in issues of asylum, immigration and other policies involving freedom of movement, the general rule for decision-making must be to adopt legislative acts under the codecision process, in which the Council reaches agreement by qualified majority. I also welcome the fact that this conclusion has been reached by the Convention’s working group with a broad majority.
In terms of changes to the Treaty, the Commission is encouraging the Convention to adopt the rule of a more explicit legal basis for developing a common European asylum system that goes beyond the mere minimum common rules that the Council is currently discussing."@en1
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