Gradin slams slow progress in ratification of conventions

Date: 18/12/1997

By Simon Coss

JUSTICE Commissioner Anita Gradin has once again attacked EU governments' slow process in ratifying a series of intergovernmental agreements seen as vital to combat cross-border crime.

Speaking to MEPs in Strasbourg this week, she told them that the accords were "essential tools" in the fight against organised crime, adding: "I would appeal to you as parliamentarians to put pressure on your respective national capitals. Only when the conventions are ratified will we have efficient tools in our hands."

Key among the agreements yet to be approved by national parliaments is the convention which will allow the pan-European police agency Europol to become fully operational.

EU political leaders agreed to the Europol Convention text at their June 1996 summit in Florence. Six months later, they pledged to complete the ratification process in all 15 national parliaments by Christmas 1997.

To date, however, only four member states - the UK, Denmark, Spain and Sweden - have done so.

Parliamentary scrutiny of the Convention has been completed in a further three - France, Portugal and Germany - but none has yet informed the Council of Ministers secretariat in Brussels of this officially.

The remaining eight member states are currently involved in often lengthy ratification procedures.

Following a meeting with his EU counterparts earlier this month, Luxembourg Justice Minister Marc Fischbach said member states hoped Europol would finally be operational by the middle of 1998. "They say they want the ratification process to be completed by the beginning of the year, but for them 'beginning' means any time up until the end of March," explained one Council of Ministers insider.

Europol staff are already able to carry out certain limited activities in areas such as drugs trafficking and money laundering. At this month's meeting, justice ministers also authorised them to carry out investigations into the cross-border trade in child pornography.

The other key agreements yet to ratified are two conventions dealing with cross-border financial fraud.

The most important of these is the 1995 convention designed to prevent fraud against the EU budget, which has not yet been ratified by a single member state. The process was held up for a long time because of UK objections to the European Court of Justice's role in interpreting the deal.

A compromise allowing member states to opt out of ECJ jurisdiction has removed that stumbling block, but officials say the ratification process is nevertheless likely to drag on.

"A normal convention takes about five years to approve," explained one.

With this in mind, no one seriously expects a second convention on fraud against EU and national funds to be ratified for a long time as the deal was only approved in May.