Operating conditions in matters of justice and home affairs must be guaranteed

- Our objective is to reform the decision-making system which, in its present form, hampers the cooperation in justice and home affairs. This would secure the future ability of the EU to provide legal protection and effectively combat cross-border crime, stated Minister of Justice Leena Luhtanen, who chaired the meeting.

- The reform would also further the participation of the European Parliament, and thereby the citizens, in the decision-making. A strengthening of the status of the EC Court of Justice would secure the citizens’ access to justice in those questions of vital importance to them.

At its meeting in June the European Council commissioned Finland, as the holder of the Presidency, to examine together with the Commission how the decision-making can be enhanced on the basis of current Treaties.

At present, the EU Council can make decisions regarding police cooperation and judicial cooperation in criminal matters only if all the 25 Member States are unanimous on the issues. In the enlarged EU this has slowed down the process of dealing with matters, deteriorated the quality of the legislative acts and weakened their implementation in the Member States.

In Tampere, several Ministers supported the proposal set out in the Presidency’s discussion paper for transfer of these matters from the sphere of intergovernmental cooperation to the general decision-making of the EU.

The most comprehensive alternative for enhancing the activity would be to include all matters pertaining to police cooperation and judicial cooperation of criminal matters in the EU’s general decision-making process. If a more limited option is chosen, some matters affecting the core of the legal order of the Member States, such as the harmonisation of penalties, can still be left subject to unanimous decision-making. Another possibility would be to take the new system into practice only after a transition period.

The Ministers expressed different views on the best way to proceed in the matter. The transfer of these matters from intergovernmental cooperation to Community activities was supported in the discussion. Some Ministers were non-committal because they wanted a more thorough ascertainment of the consequences of the reform.

In the course of the Friday morning discussion, proposals on how cooperation in justice and home affairs could be more generally intensified were also presented. The legislative acts should, for instance, be more carefully drafted and their consequences better assessed. The implementation of the acts in the Member States should also be more efficiently monitored.

At the meeting of the Council of Justice and Home Affairs in October the Presidency will present an evaluation of the results of the Tampere discussion and a plan for the continued consideration of the matter. The aim is for the European Council in December to draw up guidelines for the development of the decision-making process.

Promemorias pertaining to the themes of the meeting can be found at www.eu2006.fi

Additional information: EU Coordinator Sebastian Sass, phone +358 9 160 67520,
Counsellor of Legislation Jaana Jääskeläinen, phone +358 9 160 67747