EU faces attack over crime-fighting record

Date: 07/12/1995

By Rory Watson

A CHORUS of criticism will be directed at the EU's patchy record in fighting international crime and establishing comprehensive police and judicial cooperation when MEPs meet in Strasbourg next week.

The attacks from the European Parliament and Commission alike will reinforce demands for a radical overhaul of the heavy intergovernmental structure which now determines the Union's response to organised crime, drugs, illegal immigrants, fraud and smuggling.

Their initial target will be Spanish Justice and Interior Minister Juan Alberto Belloch when he presents an account of his ministerial colleagues' efforts over the past year to MEPs on 13 December.

But their message will also be addressed to next year's Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), with the clear demand that it must remedy present failings.

German Socialist MEP Heinke Salisch explains: “For me, this is one of the major issues facing the IGC, as it concerns internal security and civil liberties.

“Citizens are more intelligent than governments as they see that proper cooperation is needed under democratic control.”

She points to the difficulties in stamping out money laundering where, despite EU legislation, all enforcement and cooperation activities are carried out intergovernmentally. “It is a total contradiction,” she complains.

Dutch Liberal member Jan Wiebenga is equally critical, saying: “There is a strange paradox here in that the governments - the British and the French - who take the strongest line against international crime are the most sceptical about transferring these issues from an intergovernmental to a Community framework.

“I think this veto-minded approach is a betrayal of voters and this paradox must be resolved. You cannot combat international crime on a national basis,” he insists.

British Conservative MEP Edward McMillan-Scott agrees the current system is inadequate. “Police cooperation, as in Europol, is a standing joke. In fact, it is standing still. On terrorism, cooperation is miniscule. It is a pretty bleak picture. I would give justice and home affairs two marks out of ten and a common foreign and security policy four out of ten. At least they are trying there,” he said.

MEPs are expected to repeat demands made earlier in the year that policies on asylum, external frontiers, immigration and drug abuse be progressively brought within the Community's ambit, so that the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice can provide the necessary political and legal scrutiny.

A highly-critical draft resolution tabled by French Socialist MEP Michèle Lindeperg attacks EU governments for adopting resolutions and declarations which were not foreseen in the Maastricht Treaty, do not appear in the EU's Official Journal and could lead to the creation of a 'non-legal' area within the Union. It condemns the failure to consult MEPs over Europol and regrets the repressive nature of government decisions on immigration and right of asylum.

MEPs are not alone in their discontent with present arrangements. The Commission also believes they are inadequate and that there are too many levels of decision-making.

If anything, Commission officials go even further than MEPs by arguing that all aspects of asylum, migration, drugs, fraud, judicial cooperation in customs matters and customs cooperation should be taken out of intergovernmental hands and put into those of the Community.

It also advocates giving the Commission the right of initiative in issues dealing with judicial cooperation in criminal matters and police cooperation.

Increasingly, participants in next year's IGC agree that much of the Union's credibility will depend on how effectively it can deal with these issues, which are of increasing concern to individuals.

Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Anita Gradin recently told MEPs: “This is a field which affects our fellow citizens in Europe. We must be able to demonstrate our serious concern for the unease and questions voiced by the people. We will be unable to do so unless we have effective tools to wield.”

But the difficulty involved in persuading 15 EU governments to agree on a common remedy is underlined in the Reflection Group report on next year's IGC, which Spanish European Affairs Minister Carlos Westendorp will present to this month's Madrid summit.

Westendorp confirms that the group “has concluded unanimously that the magnitude of the challenges is not matched by the results achieved in response to them”.

But he adds: “However, there is no unanimity on the analysis of the causes of these poor results or on the method of achieving further progress.”

Non-governmental organisations are also increasingly expressing their concern at the manner in which governments handle justice and interior issues. The NGO network on European refugee, asylum and immigration policy has recently called for more openness and democratic accountability in the handling of asylum requests.