IGC: Council position on "third pillar"
01 January 1991
IGC: Council position on "third pillar"
bacdoc March=1996
Source:
Report of the Council of Ministers on the functioning of the Treaty of
European Union - adopted by the EU's Foreign Ministers at their
meeting in Luxembourg on 10 April 1995. (Published in UK as Cm 2866,
HMSO, ?9.10)
VI. COOPERATION IN THE FIELDS OF JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS
Initial assessment
74. Before the TEU was signed, the Member States of the European
Communities cooperated, at intergovernmental level, in areas
concerning freedom of movement and the security of persons
(Coordinators' Group, CELAD, TREVI), customs cooperation (MAG) and
judicial cooperation (within the framework of the old EPC).
The aim of the provisions of Title VI of the TEU, which govern
cooperation in the fields of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA), is to
strengthen and insert the action which has been taken by Member States
for several years now into the framework of intergovernmental
cooperation, allowing greater consistency of action, providing Member
States with new instruments for action (joint action and joint
positions) and placing these in the single institutional framework of
the Union. In this field, too, the political will to act is a decisive
factor in the full use of the instruments provided for in the TEU.
75. The initial results of the application of these provisions are
inadequate although it is emphasized that the matters covered by this
Title (asylum, border controls, immigration, combating international
crime, and police cooperation) are very sensitive and time has been
very short to allow a true assessment. The action plan approved by the
European Council in Brussels in December 1993 has not yet been fully
applied.
76. Extremely limited use has been made of the new instruments
provided for in Title
VI. The Council has, on the other hand, made considerable use of
traditional instruments (statements, recommendations and resolutions),
as shown in the list in Annex Xl(a).
Two joint actions - relating to travel facilities for school pupils
originating in third countries and residing in a Member State and to
the Europol Drugs Unit - were adopted and a convention on simplified
extradition procedures signed. The Europol Convention should be
finalized before the end of June 1995; the Convention on external
borders is held up because of a problem unconnected with the
provisions of the TEU. The "recommendations" adopted on asylum and
immigration have, however, led to genuine effort to harmonize national
laws.
Progress has also been made on the exchange of information, especially
as regards the fight against drugs, forgery of documents and organized
crime.
Attention should also be drawn to the importance of the work of the
Consultative Commission on Racism and xenophobia.
77. Leaving aside the particularly sensitive nature of the subjects
covered, the difficulties encountered in applying Title VI also have
to do with the imprecise demarcation of the Community's own powers and
the multiplicity of structures used hitherto. Moreover, Title VI of
the Treaty has not laid down any precise objectives or binding
deadlines in these areas, except for Europol.
The dual EC/JHA approach
78. Title VI, the provisons of which relate both to the freedom of
movement and the safety of persons, covers some subjects which are
very closely associated with Community powers and others - such as
police - which are at the heart of national sovereignty.
In the dual EC/JHA approach - illustrated by sectors such as external
borders/visas and the protection of the Community's financial
interests - the line between the respective spheres is somewhat
blurred. The TEU also provided for the possibility of
"communitarizing", by means of the bridging provisions in Article K.9
of the TEU and Article 100c of the EC Treaty, action relating to areas
covered by Title VI, such as asylum policy, controls at external
borders