Candidates move to counter fears of crime explosion

Date: 15/06/2000

By John Shelley

CRIME-RIDDEN, corrupt, and a soft touch for organised gangs - that is the popular perception of the EU's eastern membership hopefuls.

But how justified is it? The fear is that the former Soviet bloc countries do not have the sophisticated crime-fighting infrastructure of existing Union member states, but do have a history of corrupt government. "As these countries have not been sovereign states that long they have something of a disadvantage," says one diplomat.

Those demanding a tough stance on this issue warn that when the EU's borders expand on accession, the criminal forces which have thrived in these countries will have free rein to extend their influence westwards. They also question whether the future guardians of the Union's eastern borders have strong enough controls in place to protect member states against a flow of illegal immigrants from the Ukraine and Russia.

Few deny that all the applicant countries have considerable work to do to bring their controls up to EU standards, but most also acknowledge that they have made good progress so far.

When negotiations with the leading applicants on justice and home affairs issues opened last month, Union negotiators went to the table armed with a long list of specific actions these countries must take. These include measures to fight fraud and corruption, combat drug trafficking, secure external borders and ensure customs officials will be ready to cooperate with the existing EU-15.

The Union's demands also cover less obvious areas such as assurances computer information shared across the EU will be held securely, that the new members' treatment of asylum seekers will be up to scratch, and that their police and judicial systems will be ready to cooperate with those in the West.

The Union is taking a two-pronged approach towards raising standards, insisting that applicants ratify relevant EU and international justice treaties and conventions, to be followed up by on-the-ground checks to ensure all the good words are being put into practice. "It has been the concern of member states that this is not just seen as a paper exercise, that it is not enough that there is simply an indication that they are aligning their laws but also that they are effectively implementing them as well," says one official.

Cyprus is the furthest advanced with its justice preparations. As an island, it does not have the border problems of some of the other front-runners and as a long standing sovereign state, it has a more developed judicial system. But diplomats insist that even Cyprus has some way to go, with concern focusing on its potential as a centre for off-shore money laundering.

Some of the reforms will be costly and, with only limited financial support available under the EU's Phare aid programme, probably painful. But both the candidates and Union's diplomats remain up-beat about the chances of would-be members getting their justice infrastructure up to standard in time for accession. "There is a whole list of things which we still have to prove, but there is lots of legislation that we have already put in place and we are relatively well prepared," says one applicant country diplomat.