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EU: New "G5" group of Interior Ministers meet for second time in France (1)

01 October 2003

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Five EU Interior Ministers - from France, Italy, Spain, Germany and UK - met in La Baule, France on 18-19 October. This was the second such meeting of the five biggest states in the EU, the first was held in Jerez, Spain in May. The group calls itself "G5" and says it is not intended to usurp normal EU decision-making processes.

It is reported that a series of bilateral agreements would form the basis of future EU-wide laws and measures. Among the issues on the table were: cooperation to combat terrorism, illegal immigration, establishing a list of so-called "safe" third countries whose citizens could not make refugee applications, establishing financial criteria for the issuing of visas to enter the EU, making it compulsory for airlines to pass over passenger data to the law enforcement agencies and EU biometric passports. The group is intending to meet again in three months time.

That this group should come together should come as no surprise as whatever their differences on the "war against the axis of evil" (Iraq, Iran etc) there are none on the "war against terrorism".

Sources: euractiv.com, Yahoo/France

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