4-5 December Justice and Home Affairs Council

Date: 11/12/1997

MINISTERS reached political agreement on the text of the Brussels II convention, which deals with mutual cooperation in areas of matrimonial law, notably divorce proceedings. The text must now be checked by the Council of Ministers' legal and linguistic services before it can be formally adopted.

A RESOLUTION on marriages of convenience was also agreed. Ministers said they would try to ensure the key elements of the non-binding accord were transposed into national law before 1 January 1999.

OPPOSITION from Spain prevented agreement on an EU-wide definition of 'organised crime'. Madrid felt the text provided too limited a definition. This was a set-back to the EU's battle against cross-border crime, with governments failing to meet a deadline to agree a definition before the end of the year. Luxembourg Justice Minister Marc Fischbach expressed his disappointment, saying: “We have to come up with a common definition if we want to fight against organised crime.”

MINISTERS discussed plans to draw up an EU-wide convention on driving offences. The aim would be to prevent motorists who had been banned from driving in a member state other than their own from retaining their driving licences. Problems arose over whether the home state could implement and in some cases increase penalties imposed abroad. Ministers agreed that they would try to resolve these difficulties as soon as possible.

THE Council reached political agreement on allowing the fledgling police agency Europol to gather information on the illegal trade in child pornography.