EU: JHA COUNCIL28-29 November 1996
01 November 1996
This was the only meeting of the Council of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers under the Irish Presidency and the Dutch Presidency too is planning to have only one meeting of this Council compared to six for Agriculture and two for the Transport Council. A whole series of measures - with Joint Actions suddenly in fashion - were agreed under the Irish Presidency (see chart) although little time was spent discussing them. Indeed France and the UK were represented by their Permanent Representatives in Brussels on 28 November when most of the measures were agreed. Mr Howard, the UK Home Secretary turned up for the second day when the discussion almost exclusively focused on trying to persuade the Dutch government to adopt a Joint Action on harmonising the law on drugs.
Summary of decisions
Convention on external borders: there has been no movement on this Convention for the past three years - it is still held up by a disagreement between the UK and Spain over the status of Gibraltar.
Joint Action on residence permits: the Council agreed a Joint Action on a uniform format for residence permits "in order to facilitate controls" on third country nationals. Subject to a parliamentary reserve by the Dutch it will be formally adopted at a later Council meeting.
EDU-Europol: draft regulations on: 1) Europol staff regulations; 2) "rules applicable to analysis files" and 3) "guiding principles for the confidentiality regulations" were reported on. Formally adoption of these, and other Regulations under the Europol Convention, will not take place until the Convention has been ratified by all 15 EU member states.
Organised crime: a report on organised crime was agreed. It emphasised the need for "rapid ratification of the various Conventions already signed, in particular the Europol Convention and the Money Laundering Convention of 1990."
Joint Action on the fight against trafficking in human beings and the sexual exploitation of children: the Council agreed on a "compromise text" for this Joint Action which will be formally adopted later. The aim is to "reach a common approach in the definitions of these offences and to improve judicial cooperation". It leaves Member States with a "choice" to maintain "double criminality".
Joint Action establishing an incentive and exchange programme for persons responsible for combating trade in human beings and the sexual exploitation of children: This Joint Action, to be carried out by the Commission with a budget of 6.5 million ECUs, allows for exchange and training of "persons responsible" including judges, public prosecutors, police, civil servants, and public services concerned with immigration and border controls. It includes a feasibility study of centralised "DNA data" on the "perpetrators of these crimes". Official Journal, L 322, 12 December 1996, pp7-10.
Joint Customs Surveillance Operations: From 1 January 1997 the Council agreed that the Customs Cooperation Working Party
Drugs
A whole series of measures on drugs were adopted by the Council but there was a major disagreement on a French initiative for a Joint Action harmonising the laws and practices on drugs within the EU - the vote was 14-1 in favour with the Dutch voting against. The official line was more diplomatic: "Ministers took note of a compromise text, which they will refer to their national governments, with a view to a final decision in the near future."
Prior to the 14-1 vote the status of the draft Joint Action was challenged by Denmark and Austria who wanted a Resolution and reservations were put down by Netherlands (general scrutiny reservation), and by Germany and Denmark (both parliamentary scrutiny). Article 1 calls for Member States to "align their laws to make them mutually compatible"; Article 2 to make the "practices of their police, customs and judicial authorities more compatible"; Article 3 would ensure that "the penalties imposed for serious drug trafficking are among t