EU: COREPER signs three Conventions
01 July 1995
On 26 July COREPER, the Permanent Representatives Committee of the European Council, signed - on behalf of their governments three "third pillar" Conventions on: 1) Europol; 2) The uses of information technology for customs purposes (Customs Information System, CIS); and 3) The protection of the Communities financial interests. This unusual move followed an "agreement" at the Cannes Summit, under the French Presidency, on the three Conventions.
All three were on the agenda of the meeting of the Council of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers in Luxembourg on 20-21 June. The outstanding issue from that meeting, affecting all three Conventions, was the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). At the Cannes Summit the governments divided 14-1 with the UK maintaining its opposition to any involvement of the ECJ. The meeting compromised by agreeing that the Europol Convention should be signed without any reference to the ECJ - it was decided:
"to settle the possible jurisdiction to be attributed to the Court of Justice of the European Communities at the latest by the meeting in June 1996".
European Commission President Jacques Santer commented on the decision:
"the main thing is that the Convention has been approved and that it matters little to the citizen whether the Court of Justice has competence regarding Europol. What counts is that citizen's security is strengthened."
But the Luxembourg Prime Minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, said the inclusion of the ECJ was a case of ensuring "the elementary protection of citizens' rights".
The delay between the Cannes Summit on 25-26 June and the 26 July COREPER meeting stemmed from this decision. The Benelux countries said they would formally sign the Convention but not put it to their parliaments for ratification until the question of the ECJ was resolved. Similar reservations were later expressed by the German government after the Bundestag's European Committee said it should not be signed without the ECJ.
As the scheduled meetings of Council of Ministers in Brussels passed without final agreement - the Sweden and Finnish governments wanting to consult their parliaments too - the decision fell to the last COREPER meeting in July before the summer break (COREPER's next meeting was not until 6 September).
A member of COREPER said that while in Cannes the EU Prime Ministers focused almost entirely on Europol COREPER had taken this to mean that the necessary steps should be taken on the other two Conventions as well. As sometimes happens after EU Summits COREPER is left to interpret what the Prime Ministers intended.
UK Home Secretary Michael Howard commented: "The signing of the Conventions represents a major achievement of the Third Pillar of the Maastricht Treaty, and is a direct result of effective intergovernmental cooperation". The decision to rush these three Conventions through COREPER rather than wait until the next meeting of the Council of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers, scheduled for September, stems from the need to show that the "third pillar" is working in the context of the 1996 intergovernmental conference (IGC).
While the Europol and other Conventions have now been signed on behalf of the 15 EU governments the process of ratification may well not start in several EU parliaments until next June. This process, on past evidence, will take several years - the Dublin Convention signed in June 1990 still has not been ratified by all EU countries.
EU national parliaments are now being asked to ratify four Conventions on:
* Simplified extradition (signed on 9 March)
* Europol
* Customs Information System (CIS)
* Protection of the Communities financial interests
There are at least six other Conventions in the pipeline:
* Convention on the crossing of the external frontiers
* Convention on the setting up of a European
Information System
* Convention on extradition between member states of
the EU<